Rider of Lightning and Metal
by Myricle
Summary: Hiccup Haddock is the last intern to be admitted to the Artificial Draconic Consciousness Project – the scientific attempt to emulate the minds of the long-extinct dragon race. But if a computer can think for itself, is it still just emulation? And why is he the only one who seems to care? A sci-fi retelling of the first movie… roughly speaking. May contain traces of robot dragons.
1. Intern

**Chapter 1: Intern**

A holographic bee crawled between Hiccup's grease-smudged fingers. Even though it was just projected light, he still felt a psychosomatic tickle as it wriggled onto the back of his hand.

"Hiccup Harlaus?" called a woman from outside his door.

Hiccup continued to watch the bee, daydreaming, until he remembered the fake name he was supposed to be responding to. He hurriedly disabled the hologram and set about shoving all his spare parts and tools under his bed. First impressions were everything after all, and he didn't want to look like the obsessive tinkerer he was.

"Ah… I'm here," he replied, eyes darting around for anything out of place.

Before he could do more than glance mournfully at a pair of underwear lying in the open, the door opened and a familiar face strode in without hesitation. Cami was the kind of girl who was comfortable wherever she happened to be standing – a trait Hiccup was infinitely envious of.

"Nice digs, _Harlaus_ ," she said with a smirk, her short blonde hair bouncing as she flopped onto his bed and reclined as though it was her room. "Who were you expecting? It almost looks like you tried to clean up in here."

Hiccup pulled the chair away from his computer desk and turned it to face Cami before sitting. "It's Orientation Day today. Someone from the Project should be coming to collect me soon." Hiccup sat up straight. "Wait, how did you get in here? This whole compound is supposed to be secure."

Cami shrugged and tossed him a pair of keycards. "Persuaded a guard outside one of the maintenance entrances. Don't worry," she rolled her eyes at his mortified expression, "He'll get his cards back when I leave. I just thought I'd see how my favourite mole is doing now that you're living on your own."

"I'm not your mole," Hiccup grumbled. When they were children, Cami's mother had sent her to gain Hiccup's trust by hanging out with him at school. Hiccup, excited by his first friend, ended up spilling pretty much all of his hopes and dreams, but very few useful details. He wasn't involved in the business side of things, despite his heritage, and Cami, rather than chalk Hiccup up as a dead end in the Bog Burglars quest for insider information, ended up finding his blathering rather endearing, and a very confusing friendship began to form.

"We already know it's another attempt to make a true artificial mind," Cami said lazily, in the same way she would discuss her most recent tryst. " _All_ I want to know is what makes this time different."

"Well, when you ask so nicely, how can I say no?" Hiccup said dryly. "Please, let me regale you with a comprehensive list of the Hooligan Foundation's secrets."

"You don't _know_ any of their secrets," Cami pointed out. "The last time they gave you anything more than a vague idea of what's going on, I tickled it out of you in under a minute. They'll never tell you what's happening until it's already done."

Hiccup folded his arms and tried to force his cheeks to stop burning. "Yeah, okay, you can stop rubbing it in. Besides, all that changes today. I'm _in_ , Cami. I'll be right up there with the main team, working alongside them."

Cami snorted. "You're an _intern_ , Hiccup. You'll be right up there taking orders for coffee from the _real_ scientists."

"I _am_ a real scientist." Hiccup glared at her.

Sitting up, Cami gestured at the grease smudges on his fingers and the parts scattered around his room. "No, Hiccup, you're an engineer. Probably one of the best in the Archipelago. You see problems and you fix them – you don't just sit around for years _observing_ this and _sampling_ that."

"I could," Hiccup muttered, enjoying the rare praise too much to put any vehemence in his words.

"Maybe," Cami allowed, "But it's not your greatest strength. And in this world, you _always_ have to play to your strengths."

"Are you done with the lecture yet? I could've sworn I wasn't at university anymore."

"Just reminding you how the world works. I know you get lost in my eyes when we have these little chats." Cami batted her eyelashes as she swung her legs over the side of Hiccup's bed.

Hiccup sighed and tossed her the keycards. "I know you too well for that to work on me."

Cami laughed, straightening her short black jacket. "Oh, please. I could get you any day of the week, and don't you dare pretend otherwise."

Hiccup gave her his flattest glare, but once again her words rang true. In some ways, Hiccup was a very strong-willed individual. In other, more delicate ways, he was as strong as a kitten. Cami had known him for almost ten years; she knew damn well how to play him.

"Fine, whatever. Go have fun stealing corporate secrets," he waved dismissively, turning his back to her in a huff.

"I intend to. Come by my workshop on the Bog islands if you get expelled." Cami flounced out of his room and left the door open.

 _I hate it when people do that,_ Hiccup sulked.

Hiccup got up to close the door, only to find another woman standing in the doorway. She had a lighter shade of hair than Cami, and it was a little longer as well. Her dark eyes flicked over his messy appearance with little interest.

"Hiccup Harlaus?" she said.

"That's me," Hiccup replied awkwardly, alternating between crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe. _Great, I look like a spastic._

"I'm Astrid Hofferson, Chief Intern for the Project. I'll be handling your orientation today." She stuck out a hand and he shook it, wincing at her grip.

"Chief Intern, huh?" he said, grasping for something to say. "So does that mean you're getting paid?"

Astrid's lips tightened. "I'm not in this to make money."

"So… that's a no, then?"

Even though she was half a foot shorter than him, he still flinched away when she took a step forward. "Listen, _Harlaus_ , I worked my _ass_ off to get here, and they rewarded my diligence by putting me in charge of the other interns. I'm in good standing with everyone who matters in this Project, and if it goes well, I'll likely find myself in a very good job. So keep your commentary and incompetence to yourself and do everything they tell us to do. Got it?"

Hiccup nodded hurriedly and Astrid stepped back and fixed her hair as though a mild breeze had wafted through the windowless corridor behind her. "Now, follow me. Your father is expecting us, and I'm sure you don't want to disappoint him."

Astrid led the way and Hiccup followed, more than a little irritated. "You know," he said quietly as they left the intern quarters and entered a large mess room, "The point of signing up under a different name was to avoid accusations of favouritism, but so far it seems everyone already knows who I am."

"How many Hiccups do you think there are in the Archipelago?" Astrid replied under her breath. "And how many of them just _happen_ to live in Berk, and just _happen_ to be involved in the Hooligan Foundation's biggest research facility?" She snorted. "Personally, I don't know why you bothered at all. Anyone can search up a picture of Administrator Stoick's son."

Hiccup stewed in his own annoyance as they traversed metal corridors and passed endless laboratories. He occasionally paused to try and catch a glimpse of what the other teams were working on, but Astrid always yanked him onwards by his collar.

The only enjoyable part of the forced march was when they passed by the outer window of the southern face of the facility, which overlooked all of Berk and several distant islands beyond.

 _The Archipelago._

A collection of artificial islands and facilities situated in the Arctic Circle, where the cost of cooling down massive computers was significantly reduced. The icy real estate was so popular for tech companies that entire cities had been built so that employees could live nearby instead of rotating in and out. The man-made islands became gleaming metropolises, which in turn became the perfect place for said tech companies to demonstrate their latest offerings to the electricity-addicted masses.

In homage to the Scandinavian countries the territory was bought from, city planners gravitated towards strange, old names apparently used by the Vikings. They were often blunt and not really evocative of the level of advancement present in each isle, but it was good PR and kept the rest of the world interested in the Archipelago, so the Administrators of each island saw no reason to discourage the practice.

Berk, the shining jewel of the Hooligan Foundation, was right in the centre of the Archipelago, neighboured closely by two smaller islands and a number of ocean facilities administered by Meathead Technologies. The two companies were the largest competitors, and the parts of their feud that made it to the news articles painted a picture of dark dealings and constant strife, almost as though they were warring nations.

Many other companies had their own bits of territory carved out of the frosty sea in diminishing island chains leading away from Berk, though only a few of them bothered to adhere to the Viking name protocol. The trouble was, those few tended to be the most successful.

The Bog Burglars practically flaunted the fact that they stole most of their 'advancements' by manipulating the employees of other companies or breaking into their computer networks. The Visithugs were slowly locking down a lucrative portion of the consumer electronics market, and the Outcasts, despite being heavily funded by Eastern Europe, continued to act exactly like their ridiculous name, keeping their islands to the north under the pretence of having 'much hotter computers' than everyone else – as though the extra few kilometres closer to the north pole was going to help with that, even if it were true.

Hiccup wondered if the bizarre names had given them all a strange sense of what was 'normal' anymore – as though the roughness of their titles had seeped into the social bloodstream of each company. Would they all be so blunt and barbaric if they had normal names like Future Technologies or Advanced Electronics Incorporated?

 _Probably,_ Hiccup thought sadly. This was just how people did business these days. Hiccup wasn't as naïve as he knew his father believed he was. The idealism that drove him was sincere but not without caution - it was all-too easy to be sucked dry of your beliefs in an atmosphere like this.

"Heads up," Astrid hissed, breaking Hiccup out of a daze. They stood in a white corridor with red-striped walls indicating a secure area. A small procession marched towards them from the opposite direction, led by Hiccup's father.

Stoick Haddock was 6'9", one of the tallest men in the world, and certainly the tallest in the Archipelago. But unlike most men his height, every limb was packed with muscle and weight, which gave him the bearing of a mountain come to life. He was, in every sense of the word, _vast_ , and his dark business coat bulged despite being big enough for Hiccup to fit inside one of the sleeves.

Astrid stood with her back against the wall and Hiccup quickly followed suit. He recognised a few of the other people following his father as various movers and shakers of the Hooligan Foundation. The Jorgenson patriarch was the only one he knew by name due to some family connection, and because he was Stoick's right-hand man.

"Astrid," Stoick said cheerfully in his thick accent, pausing as they came close. "I saw your operational readiness report this morning. For a moment I thought it was from the department head, it was so polished."

Astrid smiled humbly. "Thank you, sir. I'm looking forward to getting started."

"As am I." Stoick's gaze drifted over to Hiccup, and much of his cheer faded. He coughed awkwardly. "Er, Hiccup Harlaus, isn't it?"

"Don't bother, Dad. The name didn't fool anyone," Hiccup said dryly.

"Ah. Right. Work hard, son." With a thump on the shoulder, Stoick kept moving. Hiccup watched his father march away, the familiar sensation of shame prickling across his skin. It couldn't be more obvious his father would rather have Astrid as a daughter than Hiccup as a son.

"Come on," snapped Astrid from further down the corridor. Her smile was gone, replaced with an impatient frown.

At last, they reached the entrance they'd be using every day for the foreseeable future. There were two sets of thick metal doors with windows in the centre, creating an airlock for extra security. Four armed guards stood to either side, the crimson Hooligan Foundation insignia on their shoulder pads. Hiccup eyed their firearms anxiously, but they ignored him. After passing through an X-Ray machine and handing over their PDAs, he and Astrid were finally admitted into the lab proper.

It took Hiccup's breath away.

The massive chamber was two floors high, with the second looking down into the first as an observation platform. Around the edges of the lower floor, expensive machines with arms that could perform delicate operations beyond human movement were stored and maintained. Hiccup didn't even recognise some of them, which meant they weren't available publicly yet.

There was a smooth white square inlaid on the floor in the centre of the room, but Hiccup was distracted by what lay behind the glass wall on the opposite side from the entrance. There was a stairwell leading out of sight, but the sign next to it was what caught his attention.

"Is that…?" he whispered.

Astrid gave a tight smile in response, following his gaze. "Yep. Down those stairs is where we keep Odin, the world's most powerful supercomputer. It's the only reason this Project is possible."

Hiccup's mouth was dry. Ever since he'd started fiddling with computers and other devices, he'd dreamed of one day having access to Odin. He didn't even know what he'd _do_ with that much processing power! Cure all diseases, maybe, or solve global disputes. What _couldn't_ be done with a computer like that?

"Late as usual," drawled a round-bellied man nearby.

"Gobber!" Hiccup said with a grin, rushing over to clasp hands with his tutor.

Gobber smiled in return, revealing several crooked teeth, one of which was made of gold. His large chin and long blonde moustache looked out of place in the pristine laboratory, but he was never one for caring what others thought.

Most people who lost an arm and a leg would cover their prosthetic limbs with fake skin and heat pads to give the illusion of being whole, but not him. Gobber wore his dark metal limbs openly, even tinkering with them when he was bored. As a child, Hiccup had been endlessly entertained by the many devices packed into Gobber's left hand – especially when he accidentally used the lighter instead of the moustache trimmer.

"Good to see you, lad. And you, Astrid. Did you have much trouble wrangling this one?" Gobber said with a smirk as he ruffled Hiccup's hair. Hiccup recoiled and straightened his shoulder-length hair in distaste. He was taller than Gobber, finally, but it didn't seem to matter.

Astrid gave a smile that Hiccup was beginning to recognise as one she reserved for people of importance. "Nothing I couldn't handle, Professor Gareth."

Hiccup snorted back a laugh. "They don't really call you Gareth here, do they?" He ignored Astrid's sharp look.

"Everyone but you and Stoick," Gobber confirmed with a shrug. "Took some getting used to, let me tell you. I hadn't been called by my name since you learned to speak."

"So are you running this thing?" Hiccup asked hopefully.

Gobber barked a laugh. "No, lad, I'm the Chief Engineer. I keep the machines working so the science team can do their stuff. Director Ingerman is leading the Project."

"Ingerman? Fishleg's mum?"

"That's right. Though he'll probably thank you for calling him Finn around here. Not everyone liked the nicknames you made up as a kid, you know."

Hiccup shrugged sheepishly. It had been a long-running habit of his to invent new names for the people he befriended, whether they wanted them or not. Gobber had loved his so much that even Stoick started using it.

"You'd best go join the other interns. I think the Director's going to be inspecting them soon," said Gobber. " _Try_ to make a good impression. She reports straight to Stoick, remember."

And with that final downer, Hiccup was steered away by Astrid into a small conference room on the upper floor. Lounging around a round mahogany table were four people wearing Hooligan Foundation T-shirts just like him.

Hiccup recognised Fishlegs – _Finn,_ he reminded himself – immediately. The boy still had a bit of baby fat on his cheeks despite being eighteen like Hiccup, but the rest of his body was thick and stubby. From a stranger's perspective, it would be easy to think Fishlegs was all brawn and no brains, when quite the opposite was true. The timid boy was Hiccup's second friend after Cami, and they spent much of their adolescence studying together.

While Astrid went and chatted to the three interns at the other end of the table, Hiccup slid into a chair besides Fishlegs, who was nervously flipping through a reference book. "Hey, Fish – er, Finn."

"Oh! Hi, Hiccup," Fishlegs said brightly. "I'm glad you're here. Can you go through these flash cards with me? I think I might have forgotten a few definitions."

"The Director isn't gonna give us an exam," Hiccup replied with a laugh, shuffling the flash cards.

"Still, better to be safe than sorry. We're the first interns to ever be a part of a project this important. We should be ready for anything."

Before they could get started, the Ingerman matriarch strode into the room without warning, her lab coat flapping behind her. Hiccup could never get over the difference between Fishlegs and his mother. She was slender and short with a focused, ice-blue gaze. Hiccup had spent enough time at Fishlegs' house to know she was quite normal, but then, he'd never seen her at work before.

Astrid shot to her feet in respect, and the others followed suit a moment later.

"Hofferson, is everyone accounted for?" asked the Director.

"Yes, ma'am. Six trained interns at your disposal," replied Astrid.

"Wonderful. Now, you've all been chosen because you possess skills useful to this Project. Hofferson, what are your skills?"

Astrid responded as though she'd memorised her answer weeks ago. She probably had. "Small unit leadership, logistics, inventory management, staffing, delegation, and basic training in both computer science and electrical engineering."

"Good." The Director turned to the next two interns, a man and woman who Hiccup didn't know. "The Thorstons, correct?"

"Yes ma'am," they said simultaneously. Hiccup eyed them with surprise. The man had straw-coloured hair as long as his sister's, and she had tattoos visible under her collar. They seemed so out of place he wondered if this was some kind of hazing ritual.

"I understand the two of you studied complementary subjects so you would both have a chance of being accepted into this Project. Please, elaborate and share your names."

The man started to speak, but the woman slapped a hand over his mouth and took the lead. "Rae Thorston, the one and only. Dad calls me Ruff, but that's only 'cause he's a wimp. I majored in microbiology."

The brother shoved Ruff aside and slugged her in the arm. "Now that we're done with little miss attention-starved over here, I'm Tait, but my friends call me Tuff 'cause I can open a coconut with my head. I majored in nanotechnology, which is way cooler than microbiology."

The Director smiled. "If this Project goes well, your skillsets will be very useful for future emulations." She turned to the dark-haired brawny intern between Tuff and Fishlegs. "Jorgenson, yes? Your father Steinar is very glad you were selected for this group."

The man straightened in pride. "Stein Jorgenson, at your service. I was in all of Astrid's classes, so we have the same skillset." His eyes flicked conspicuously to the Chief Intern, who was gripping the table so hard her knuckles were white. Hiccup got the feeling they weren't on the same page.

Without appearing to notice anything, the Director faced her son. "Hello, dear."

Fishlegs' face went bright red as the twins sniggered. The Director passed over him, obviously already knowing what he studied, and finished at Hiccup.

"Hiccup _Harlaus_ , I presume," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's… just Haddock now," Hiccup replied, wincing at another reminder that his plan to remain unknown was doomed from the start. Stein snorted back a laugh, and Hiccup immediately assigned him the nickname Snotlout. It was better than he deserved.

"I know you shared a few classes with Finn, but I confess I'm not completely familiar with your skillset."

Hiccup scratched the back of his neck, aware of all the eyes on him. "Er, well, I've sorta been fiddling with stuff since I was little, and uh, when I was finally able to choose what I could study, I ended up doing a lot."

"Some examples, perhaps?" pressed the Director, her eyes boring into him.

Hiccup swallowed. "I have master certifications in robotics, programming, and mechanical engineering. I also have had lifelong training in welding and metalworking – just as a hobby – and I achieved a minor certification in computer science and cryptography last summer. I majored in Computer Systems Analysis."

The room was still. "Anything else?" asked the Director quietly.

Hiccup wracked his brain for anything else he knew, wishing he had a clue as to what the Director was looking for. _I thought I covered the requirements! What did I miss?_

"Uh, well, ah, I'm pretty good at, um, photography."

"Photography," the Director repeated flatly. Hiccup nodded, too frightened to answer.

Directory Ingerman began shaking her head slowly and Hiccup's heart sank, but suddenly a huge grin split her face.

"You must have the most varied skillset I've ever seen," she laughed. "And to think Stoick wasn't sure whether you'd be useful to us! I think you'll do well here, Hiccup."

Hiccup exhaled and slumped in relief. Fishlegs patted him on the back, looking a little impressed. In fact, as Hiccup glanced at the other interns, they were eyeing him appraisingly, as though noticing him for the first time. Even Astrid's eyebrows rose slightly.

The Director's words caught up to Hiccup's ears. "Wait, what did my Dad say?" he asked, but he was drowned out in a rush of motion as the Director gestured for them to follow her.

"Let me introduce you to the star of the show," she said, leading them down to the lower floor again. They approached the smooth white square on the floor in the middle of the lab. The Director flicked a hand at a nearby assistant, and after a few taps on a keyboard, the square began to rise out of the ground. In moments, a metre-high cube stood before them, with a smaller square inlaid in the top face.

"This is the containment box for the Project," explained the Director, "And _this_ is what we're all here for."

Another flick of her hand, and the smaller square rose into a little cube about twenty centimetres tall. The top face was white, but the sides were transparent, revealing an impossibly intricate machine. Particles that glinted blue in the light twisted and swirled around tiny pillars of conductive metal in what at first appeared to be a chaotic pattern, but after observation was revealed to be perfectly ordered, like the transistors on a circuit board. All of it was contained in something that could be carried in one hand.

"The Quantum Emulator," the Director said softly, giving name to this wonder. "The first of many, we hope."

As the interns crowded around, each eager to get a closer look, the Director walked in a slow circle behind them, speaking in tones of excitement. "Countless companies have tried to emulate the human mind with powerful computers. We ourselves have tried to do so for over a decade by using Odin's enormous processing power, with no results. But this Project is different. We have refocused our sights on lesser minds so that we might use them as stepping stones to work our way up to something that thinks like a human."

Director Ingerman captivated them with her words as they watched clouds of particles perform their baroque dance. "Through Odin, we successfully emulated the minds of ants, then mice, then cats, then dogs, and finally apes. We thought modern humans were the next step. We were wrong. Recent discoveries regarding ancient Viking interactions with a certain race of diverse flying reptiles have given us cause to believe that they are the missing link in human consciousness emulation.

"Dragons, ladies and gentlemen, were nearly as smart as humanity in some aspects, though obviously still primal in others. Another department managed to reconstruct the blueprints for a dragon's brain based on the most well-preserved fossil we've ever uncovered – I believe it was found in a cove on some island near Norway – but unfortunately there's a little more to consciousness emulation than just looking at a holographic brain." Director Ingerman chuckled and Snotlout guffawed like the good little suck-up he was. Hiccup ground his teeth and focused on the Director's words.

"And that's where this Quantum Emulator comes in. Our greatest scientists laid down the plans for it, and we let Odin fill in the gaps. It took five years of dedicated processing before we had something buildable, and only now are we ready to join the two projects together. You're witnessing scientific history." The Director sounded a bit breathless at the notion, and Hiccup couldn't help but get caught up in her excitement.

"What remains to be done, ma'am?" asked Astrid. She stared at the Director with a determined stiffness to her jaw, and Hiccup knew in an instant he was going to get worked to the bone over the next few weeks.

"We will be… _translating_ , for lack of a better word, the reconstructed brain into the Quantum Emulator. Essentially, we have to teach it to reconfigure those particles in a way that mimics the brain we are trying to emulate."

"Hang on," said Ruff, folding her arms, "How come this little thing is gonna be able to do what Odin couldn't? I mean, that thing downstairs is like, the size of this facility, right?"

Director Ingerman smiled. "Odin is indeed quite large, but atoms and molecules, which are what this Emulator uses, are smaller to such a vast degree that we can fit almost half of Odin's power in here."

"Half?" Tuff clarified, looking sceptical.

"It wasn't the power that prevented Odin from succeeding with emulating the human mind," the Director chided calmly, "It was the lack of versatility in terms of how a computer thinks. Odin, while powerful, was static and unchanging in its layout, whereas the Emulator is in a constant state of flux, as you can see here. It is far better suited to consciousness emulation than a supercomputer."

Hiccup thought he understood. He compared his father to Odin: enormously powerful but lacking any capacity for change. In that way, he decided happily, he had a lot in common with this little box. He changed courses every five minutes, according to Gobber.

"Mum? I mean, Director Ingerman?" said Fishlegs, blushing once more.

"Yes, Finn?" The Director didn't appear to be bothered.

"What kind of dragon will we be trying to emulate?"

" _Draco nocte icio,"_ she said with a grin. "The Vikings called it a Night Fury."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Let me know what you think so far. Too cyberpunky? Too much jargon, not enough robot dragons?**

 **Wondering why I included Cami when this is supposed to be like the first movie? Well, it's pretty clear this isn't going to be exactly the same as the movie - how could it be, when the whole world is different?  
**

 **Setting the stage is important, but the meat of the story is yet to come.**

 **For convenience, here is a table of everyone's Viking and Modern names.**

 **Hiccup Haddock = Hiccup Haddock  
Stoick the Vast = Stoick Haddock  
Gobber the Belch = Gareth Bent  
Fishlegs Ingerman = Finn Ingerman  
Astrid Hofferson = Astrid Hofferson  
Spitelout Jorgenson = Steinar Jorgenson  
Snotloud Jorgenson = Stein Jorgenson  
Ruffnut Thorston = Rae Thorston  
Tuffnut Thorston = Tait Thorston  
Camicazi = Cami **


	2. Lab Rat

**Chapter 2: Lab Rat**

Hiccup's fingers were covered in burns. There were dozens of tiny ones accrued over years of metalworking and soldering, but they were all faded and white compared to the angry red blotches that now discoloured his knuckles.

Hiccup gritted his teeth and delivered the coffees to each member of the main team, including a flat white for Director Ingerman. Astrid noticed him rubbing his hands when he returned to the intern's area of the lab, which consisted of a single desk and a few pens and notepads.

"If you stopped daydreaming, you wouldn't spill coffee on yourself as much," she sniffed.

"If we had actual work to do, I wouldn't need to daydream as much," he replied under his breath.

Fishlegs was the only one who heard him. "It's all part of the process, Hiccup. We have to start at the bottom if we want to get anywhere. Fetching a few coffees is nothing compared to what we'll be doing later on."

Hiccup was exasperated as he took a seat beside Fishlegs. "When exactly does 'later on' begin? It's been two weeks and we haven't so much as looked through a microscope. I mean, what is the point of having such high standards for admission if we're just going to be doing what any random aide could do?"

Fishlegs was shaking his head urgently, but Hiccup was on a roll now. "We've got all this brainpower _aching_ for something to solve, and the main team is constantly talking about how overworked they are. You'd think sooner or later someone would take advantage of the free labour sitting around."

"Sounds like you're volunteering, then," Gobber drawled behind him.

Hiccup turned in his chair and eyed the Chief Engineer suspiciously. "Volunteering for what?"

"The Director needs someone to sit at a computer and monitor everything that appears on the screen."

"Fine. Anything's better than this."

An hour later, Hiccup cursed his impatience. He sat on the upper floor at a computer desk beside the railing, watching all the action below. Moments after Hiccup took Gobber's offer, he'd been forced to watch Director Ingerman and some of the science team members recruit Astrid and the others for various jobs. While he let page after page of data slowly scroll by, he saw Fishlegs being instructed on how to adjust one of the machines. The twins were wheeling a quantum microscope over to the Emulator, grinning all the while. Stein – Snotlout – followed Director Ingerman around, seconding everything she said. Astrid darted about the room, checking on each of the interns except him. Occasionally she would glance up and meet his flat stare, but she always returned to work without acknowledging his bad luck.

 _They_ finally _start involving us, and I get stuck on data duty!_

Hiccup could only huff and sigh irritably, but there wasn't even anybody close enough to hear. Gobber brought him a cup of tea after a couple of hours, by which time Hiccup was in a terrible mood.

"Having fun?" asked Gobber cheerfully, plopping the cup down on the desk. Hiccup didn't dignify that with a response, instead continuing to glare at the monitor.

"C'mon," Gobber went on, "You're a Systems Analyst, aren't you?" He pointed a metal finger at the screen. "Analyse that system!"

Hiccup let his head fall forward to thump on the desk. "That's not quite what –" he began, only to realise Gobber was already gone.

"Argh!" he groaned, reaching blindly for his tea and accidentally burning a finger. "Oh come on!"

"Shouldn't you be working instead of spilling tea?" said Astrid, approaching from the stairs leading to the lower floor. He hadn't noticed her leave the others.

"Oh good, _you're_ here," he said with a false smile.

Astrid folded her arms, covering the red Hooligan Foundation symbol on her shirt. "I don't like that every time I look up to see how you're doing, you're looking down at the others. We all have our tasks to do, and you need to pull your weight."

And Hiccup snapped. Maybe there was something in the tea, or maybe it was how the black words on white pages seemed to be burned into his eyes, or maybe it was from sitting in mental stagnation for hours, but he couldn't take another lecture.

"You know what? Why don't you write a comprehensive list of everything you don't like about me? That way, you can get it _all_ out of your system, and I won't have to listen to your constant criticism of my every action."

Astrid's nostrils flared and her hands balled into fists. She kept her arms crossed as though restraining herself from punching him. " _My_ job is to keep everyone doing _their_ jobs. If yours isn't _satisfactory_ , then you can tell Director Ingerman yourself that her delegation skills are lacking."

Hiccup shifted his stance. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the Director _personally_ requested you for this job. The guys in charge of teaching the Emulator how to think like a dragon said they needed an extra pair of eyes on this computer to monitor their progress. The Director said you were by far the most qualified intern for the job." The words were drawn from Astrid like poison from a wound, and her mouth twisted in distaste at being forced to compliment him.

"Wait, that's what this garbage is?" Hiccup gestured at the unending waterfall of indented digits on the screen.

"What did you _think_ it was?" Astrid asked exasperatedly.

Hiccup shrugged, his anger fading. "I've never seen an algorithm like this before. Have you?"

Astrid still radiated barely-restrained indignation, but she bent over the desk regardless. After a moment, she shook her head. "No. However, this isn't my specialty. It's yours. So if you don't know what this is, you had better find out."

With that, Astrid strode back downstairs, venting her frustration by hassling the other interns. Despite having spent the last few hours staring at the screen, Hiccup felt as though he was seeing the algorithm for the first time. He was no stranger to programming – the certification on his bedroom wall wasn't gained through ignorance – but he could barely trace the logic from each line as it led into the next.

"If I could see the beginning," he mumbled to himself. "If I could see the established variables or functions or _anything_ , this might be understandable."

He eyed the intercom beside his keyboard. One of the channels was labelled Translation Team, the same people apparently making this algorithm appear on his screen. Could he risk a call? Or was he supposed to already know what this whole thing meant?

"Oh, _wow!_ " a voice echoed from the lower floor. Hiccup glanced over the railing and saw one of the science team members allowing Tuff to look through the quantum microscope. "There are so many! And – oh man, how can you even tell they're interacting? It's so fast!"

Ruff elbowed her brother aside. "Quit hoggin' the scope!"

The little domestic disturbance seemed to have captured everyone's attention, so Hiccup jammed his thumb on the call button and hoped for the best.

"Is this the Translation Team?" he asked, keeping his voice low so it wouldn't carry.

A wet, smacking sound became audible, like someone chewing gum. "The heck is this?" asked a male voice through the speaker.

"Uh, I'm Hiccup, the intern watching the computer on the upper floor."

"Ah, I'm Sven, Translation Team Leader. What's up?"

Hiccup leaned over the railing and spotted Sven waving at him from their workspace. He had curly, ginger hair and was wearing the a white lab coat.

"I have a question about the algorithm."

"Shoot."

Hiccup swallowed. "Er, am I supposed to understand it?"

Sven laughed. "I'd be pretty damn impressed if you did, kid. Most of what you're seeing is Odin's work, not ours. It's mostly tedious stuff, like teaching the Emulator to emulate a thousand identical Night Fury neurons, but we can't afford to be off by a single particle, so it's better to have Odin do it. Less capacity for human error, you know?"

"So what parts _do_ you guys handle?" asked Hiccup, carefully sipping at his tea. Now that he knew he wasn't lagging behind, he felt a lot more relaxed.

"Well, don't tell anyone else, but we think we're close to hatching." Sven's voice dropped in volume and took on a layer of excitement.

"Hatching?"

"We're teaching a quantum computer to simulate a living being, Hiccup. Tell me, did you just pop into existence one day with all of your memories and knowledge?"

"Technically there's no way I can prove I didn't."

Sven chuckled. "Alright, smart guy, let's just assume you didn't. You were born once. You went through various developmental stages, both mentally and physically. You learned object permanence, you discovered your feet, all that mushy baby stuff. You grew and learned and began to form an understanding of yourself and the world around you."

Hiccup followed along. "So in order to emulate the mind of a dragon, we have to start at the beginning of its life cycle."

"Exactly."

"But how can it develop properly? Wouldn't it need sensory information to form any understanding of its existence? How can a dragon learn to fly if it doesn't have a body?"

"Hiccup, there are some parts of the Project we can't discuss until we reach them. I'm sorry kid, I know you're curious, but we're handling this in stages to maintain unit cohesion. We can't have one team jumping too far ahead of the others."

Hiccup was burning with the desire to know more, but Sven sounded sincerely regretful, so he held his tongue. "Alright, I guess that makes sense. Thanks for the heads-up, anyway."

"Not a problem. Keep an eye on that data, will you? That's a little Night Fury swimming around in his egg."

Hiccup stared at the rolling lines of information, his eyes widening. "It's male?" he asked softly.

"Technically his sex hasn't been determined yet, but the fossil this is all based on belonged to a male, so it's guaranteed he will be too. Sorry, kid, I gotta get back to work. The Director's coming over."

The intercom clicked off, but Hiccup barely registered the sound as he stared at the algorithm. Despite know how stupid it was, he tried to blur his eyes and imagine a tiny Night Fury wriggling inside a blue-veined egg. In his mind's eye, the lines shifted and writhed like little black legs.

"Hiccup! Coffee run!" Astrid barked from the lower floor.

"Alright, coming!" Hiccup called over the railing, and when he turned back to the monitor, all he saw was data.

* * *

The days began to blur together. Despite Hiccup's constant prying, Sven refused to give any further information on the Night Fury's development. It became a daily routine for Hiccup to ask, "Hatched?" and for Sven to reply, "Not yet," whenever they passed by each other. Hiccup still had nothing better to do than watch the algorithm form, but he no longer found it mind-numbing.

He'd overheard the other interns talking about their work while eating dinner in the mess hall. They spoke proudly of taking part in various experiments and getting to use some of the expensive machines, but Hiccup was able to piece together what was really happening. The teams were preparing, running drills, burning time. The only team that was actually moving towards a goal was the Translation Team, and nobody but Hiccup was involved with them. Only when the Night Fury 'hatched' would the other teams finally have something to contribute.

On the Monday of his fifth week on the Project, Hiccup stumbled around his room pulling on clothes that he'd long-since given up on ironing regularly, mainly because of the difficulty of fitting an ironing board in his room.

Intern quarters weren't impressive. With grey-blue walls and no windows or decorations, Hiccup was left to his own devices to make the room more appealing. He hung his certificates on the walls along with a few informative charts and cheat sheets for programming languages he wasn't fluent in. But no matter his effort at making the space his own, it never lost that cramped, efficient vibe.

Instead of having private bathrooms like the paid employees, interns were forced to use a shared shower room and lavatory, which were at the end of the corridor their rooms connected to. Hiccup's room was between Tuff and Fishlegs, while Stein was on the other side of the corridor between Astrid and Ruff.

What this meant was that every morning, the six interns would stagger into the same shower room while rubbing sleep from their eyes, and try to pretend they were too mature to care they were getting undressed beside members of the opposite gender.

After that, they would force down their blushes, avoid eye contact, and go to the mess hall where a breakfast buffet was served. Hiccup had to admit, he ate better at the hard steel tables than he ever did at home. Administrator Stoick was many things, but a cook wasn't one of them.

Hiccup realised with a start that it had been nearly a week since he'd last spoken to his father. As the others made for the lab, Hiccup hung back and called Stoick on his mobile. The number rung out, and Hiccup was surprised by the relief he felt, followed by guilt.

"Uh, hey Dad," he said into the voicemail receiver, "Just, er, realised it's been a little while since we've talked. N-Nothing's wrong or anything, don't worry. Things in the lab are going well, and I hope your stuff is, uh, fine too. See you later."

"God, that was awkward to listen to," said Cami, cringing as she approached from the direction of a maintenance entrance. He'd had enough visits to pin down exactly how she got in, but he couldn't bring himself to inform security about the hole in their strategy. Sometimes it felt like Cami was the only person he could rely on, even if it was only to break whatever rules he tried to impose on her.

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked, trying to hide how pleased he was.

Cami yawned and stretched, drawing his gaze to how tight her sleeveless black top was. Her short jacket did little to preserve her assets, which were considerable. "I've had a long night, so I figured I might catch a few Zs in your bed while you work."

"Seriously? You broke in here for a nap?" Hiccup focused so intently on keeping his eyes on her face that she began to smirk.

"Like the top, do you? The guy who usually lets me in was getting cold feet, so I had to break out the big guns… so to speak."

Hiccup held his hands up and mimed pushing himself away from the conversation. "I don't need to hear this. If you wanna sleep, feel free to use my room. Just try not to steal anything for once." Cami's laughter echoed behind him.

Hiccup ran into Sven on the way to the lab. The tall ginger was tucking a pack of cigarettes into his pocket with one hand while tossing a stick of gum into his mouth with the other.

"Hatched?" Hiccup asked out of habit.

Sven's grin split his whole face. "Damn right it has. And kid, that thing has come out _swinging_."

Hiccup was sprinting towards the metal airlock before Sven's words had even registered properly.

"Hey!" called one of the armed guards. Hiccup slid to a halt, suddenly realising there were four handguns trained on him. His eyes were as wide as they could go as he stared into the darkness within each barrel, wondering if he'd see a glint of lead before the bullets entered his brain.

Sven jogged up to Hiccup's side, showing his empty hands. "Easy, boys," he puffed, curly hair bobbing. "Administrator Stoick probably wouldn't appreciate you pointing those at his son." Recognition crossed their faces, and the pistols were holstered quickly. "Cheers, guys. Sorry about that. It's a good day for science, and Hiccup's feeling enthusiastic for once."

Sven shared a chuckle with one guard while the rest remained stone-faced. Hiccup followed Sven into the airlock with red cheeks and fading adrenaline.

"Quick life lesson for you, Hiccup," Sven said quietly, "Don't ever, _ever_ sprint towards armed guards. Things like that tend to trigger a fight-or-flight response, and when someone has a gun in their hand, they won't often choose flight."

"I'll try to remember that," Hiccup said thickly.

There was an excited buzz in the air as they entered the lab proper. Nobody was at their stations, instead hovering around the centre area as two of Sven's guys attached a palm-sized red tube to each side of the Quantum Emulator. They seemed to connect without actually slotting into anything, as the sides were transparent.

Sven noticed Hiccup's confusion. "Those red things are adapters that provide input-output functionality to the Emulator. They're gonna be pretty useful for the next phase." The Translation Team leader pushed through the crowd to join his people.

"How do they stay connected?" Hiccup muttered, shuffling around a group of grinning physicists.

"The adapters are attracted to each other magnetically," Fishlegs replied from nearby. Hiccup hadn't even realised he'd found his fellow interns. "One is positively charged and the other is negatively charged, and by putting them on either side of the Emulator, they pull towards each other, which keeps them in place."

"So how do the adapters actually, you know, adapt?"

"I have _no_ idea." Fishlegs sounded positively thrilled by the notion. "How amazing is all of this, Hiccup? I can't believe we're a part of it."

"Yeah, it's something," Hiccup replied with a smile. He couldn't stop thinking about the way Sven described the algorithm currently running through the Emulator – as though there was a tiny Night Fury swimming with the millions of particles. What would his life be like? How would he learn to fly?

"Alright, quiet down!" called Sven, and the lab fell silent. "Robert, crank it up."

The tube-like adapters flickered to life, their colour changing to blue in an instant. Hiccup noticed wires on the opposite ends of the adapters that led around into a single cable, which in turn connected to a laptop operated by Robert.

"Adapters are fine, we've got a stable connection," the bearded man said steadily, his fingers dancing across the keyboard. "Not a moment too soon, Sven. This guy just opened his eyes."

A chorus of gasps filled the room when the adapters flickered red for a moment. "He's panicking, Sven – simulated heart rate is way higher than it should be," Robert said quickly.

"Start the program. He'll calm down soon enough," replied Sven. "Time to find out if our zoologists are worth as much as they charge." He exchanged a glance with Director Ingerman.

"Program starting… Fifty percent… Ninety… Bingo!" Robert grinned. "Heart rate falling. Looks like he's going for a wander."

Sven clicked his fingers at the only team still at their stations. "Transfer control to the VR team."

"He's going for a wander?" Hiccup repeated loudly. The people nearby looked just as confused.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Sven called. "In the pursuit of synergy, some aspects of this Project have not been made obvious to many of you. We're taking this on a phase-by-phase basis, so only the team leaders know what's coming, leaving the team members free to focus on their tasks without worrying about the future. What you just witnessed was the beginning of Phase Two!"

Applause echoed off the smooth white walls, but it quietened quickly.

"Our greatest zoologists have been studying the Night Fury lifecycle for years," Sven went on, clearly enjoying the way his words gripped the crowd. "Through the use of various Hooligan Foundation sponsored advancements in the field of palaeontology, they have reconstructed the first week of a Night Fury's life in extreme detail. Through the brilliance of our VR department, we have been able to create a virtual environment that can provide enough sensory input to ensure our emulated Night Fury hits all the right targets in that first week."

Sven grinned. "Which means when Robert said the little guy was going for a wander, that's exactly what he was doing."

The applause this time was thunderous. Hiccup clapped along, exchanging incredulous looks with Fishlegs and the others. Even Astrid seemed too shocked to muster any irritation.

Director Ingerman took the floor. "This week will require the unwavering focus of our VR team and the Translation Team, so in order to ensure their workspace is distraction-free, all other teams will be given the week off with full pay."

Now _that_ got a few cheers. Hiccup was disappointed he wouldn't be able to watch the Night Fury grow up, even if was only for a week. He felt quite invested in that little cube, especially now that he knew the dragon was going to be able to learn and fly like any other, if not in the real world. It was the best they could possibly do for the little guy, and Hiccup felt a surge of affection for the whole lab.

A few teams were asking Sven questions about the process of putting an emulated being into a virtual environment, so Hiccup and Fishlegs wandered over to join them.

"The adapters are custom," Sven was saying, "So we don't have to worry about compatibility issues like we would if we took Visithug Electronics up on their offer. Their manufacturing standards are well below ours when it comes to high-end equipment, so, as usual, we had to make them ourselves."

A couple of men chuckled. "That does seem to be the way of it, these days," one of them snorted.

"Is the virtual environment glitch-free?" asked Astrid, who had followed Hiccup and Fishlegs without them realising.

"Of course. We've kept a couple of Odin's towers free to make sure there's enough processing power to keep the VR stuff as smooth as possible," said Sven. "Once the week is over, that power will go into Phase Three."

"Any hints about Phase Three?" asked a woman with a devious smile.

"Now, now, Doris, one thing at a time." Sven smiled smugly and the woman laughed.

"What happens when the week is over?" asked Fishlegs. Hiccup was wondering the same thing. Would they need more of Odin's processing power to handle a larger virtual environment? One big enough to allow the Night Fury to fly?

"The Zoologists were only able to map out the first week of a Night Fury's life because the brain development was fairly predictable," explained Sven. "After the first week ends, there's so much individual variance that we don't really know how they reach maturity or what has to happen. We just know what the brain is supposed to look like at the end."

Hiccup began to feel as though something wasn't right. "Then how will you make sure the Night Fury's brain grows and develops into that mature state?" he asked.

Sven nodded at Hiccup. "We're going to use the adaptors to apply stimulus until different parts of the brain develop. Over time, we'll steer the emulated brain until it matches the one we reconstructed from that fossil."

"But what will it _feel_ like?"

"My best guess would be… It would feel like a constant, inexplicable surge of feeling in each of your senses, alternating between pleasure and pain, slowly transforming your brain until you become something completely different. In this case, an adult Night Fury."

"That sounds like torture," Hiccup whispered.

Sven laughed, as did a couple of other team members. "It's not a real dragon, Hiccup. It's a box that _thinks_ it's a dragon because we told it to."

Hiccup opened his mouth, but the words wouldn't come. He could see from the slightly condescending expressions of the Translation Team and the way some of them hid smiles behind their hands that he wasn't on the same page as any of them.

Sven had already moved on to another question from Fishlegs. The crowd of scientists chatted and expressed their hopes for the later stages of the Project, as well as the possible future applications of the Quantum Emulator.

"Once this Project is over, for good or ill, we'll have to disassemble the Emulator to inspect it for permanent changes in the machinery," Director Ingerman was saying to Robert. "With luck, it may even be reusable on another Night Fury, or perhaps another breed of dragon. Imagine: repeatable, provable testing on accurately emulated dragon minds!" She smiled brightly. "Stoick is going to love this. We're one step closer to a true _human_ artificial intelligence."

Hiccup stumbled back from the gathering, feeling sick. In minutes, his faith in the Project and his fellow scientists had been spat on and dragged through the mud.

 _They're going to torture a consciousness! They gave it the ability to think and feel just so they could force it into a mould, like some sort of existential brainwashing!_

He began walking shakily towards the exit, but he stopped before passing the centre of the room, where the Emulator was still transmitting through the currently-blue adapters. A living being, emulated by a computer or not, was experiencing his first few days of existence right now, unaware that the world he was exploring was only temporary.

What would it look like in there? Would the little dragon finish eating his first fish only to see a wall of darkness on the horizon, jumping closer and closer as the Emulator was disconnected from the virtual environment? Would he feel confusion and fear in the moments that followed, in that instance of time before Sven's team took over and pumped his mind full of stimulus? Would he ever feel a sensation of his own making again?

Hiccup felt the urge to grab the cube and run, flee from the facility, from Berk and the Archipelago. Surely there would be people out there, somewhere, who thought like he did. But he knew he'd never make it out of the lab. So he left, his heartstrings snapping at the thought of leaving the defenceless mind to the mercy of scientists.

Cami was right, Hiccup realised. He wasn't a scientist, but not for the reasons she proposed.

 _I have a goddamn heart,_ he thought fiercely.

The guards didn't pull their weapons on him this time, probably because he was running _away_ from them. He bolted down corridors, leapt down stairs, tore through the mess room as though the devil himself was chasing him.

Hiccup burst into his room, startling Cami awake. She had his journal open on her chest as though she'd been reading it before falling asleep, and now it fell onto the floor with a thump. Hiccup was too focused to be angry.

"Cami," he said for some reason, possibly to confirm it was actually her. This conversation was going to get him in a lot of trouble, he could feel it already.

"Hiccup?" she said blearily, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "What the heck are you doing?"

Hiccup closed the door and locked it, then went over to his computer and unplugged the headset lying beside it. After that, he withdrew his phone and PDA and removed their batteries, then did the same to Cami's, which were lying on his bedside table.

"Why are you taking stuff out of other stuff?" Cami asked, her voice gaining strength as she slowly woke up.

"Microphones can be hacked pretty easily. I don't want anybody to overhear us."

That made Cami's eyes shoot open completely. "Er, what is there to overhear?"

"I have something to ask you." Hiccup sat on the bed beside her, not breaking eye contact. He'd never felt so certain about anything in his life.

Cami's eyebrows kept climbing as she processed Hiccup's proximity and his urgent desire for privacy. "Uh, Hiccup? Is this gonna get weird?"

"It's already weird," Hiccup said, laughing mirthlessly. "It's about to get stupid, too."

"This is the strangest seduction attempt I've ever seen," Cami said, her voice cracking slightly.

Hiccup jolted, finally realising how it looked from her perspective. "What? No, no, no, that's not what this is. I have some things to tell you, and then a request to make."

Cami relaxed slightly, though she still seemed unnerved by his seriousness. "Tell me the request first, so I know for sure it's not weird."

Hiccup gave her a crooked smile. "I need you to help me steal a dragon."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Let me know what you think.**

 **I might enjoy writing technical jargon a little too much, so be sure to let me know if I'm overdoing it (But then again, this story _is_ sci-fi).**

 **I have a lot of very cool things planned for this story, and I can't wait for you all to meet Toothless properly.**


	3. Mole

**Chapter 3: Mole**

Cami barely seemed to breathe after Hiccup finished explaining. One of her eyebrows was nearly touching her hairline, while the other had fallen into a frown, giving the impression of a person warring with two very different emotions.

"My mother," she said, licking her lips, "Would _kill_ for this information."

Hiccup grabbed Cami by the shoulders. "Nobody can know about this. I don't care how much prestige or money or motherly love you'd get out of telling her, this is more important."

Cami avoided his eyes, looking torn. "I've never kept a secret from her before. Bogs share everything with each other."

"Cami, please. You have to promise me you won't tell her. I know you're a lying thief by trade, but if our friendship means anything at all to you, you'll do this for me."

Slowly, Cami met his gaze. For once, there was no hint of bravado in her expression, so Hiccup knew she was taking him seriously. "You really believe this thing is alive?"

"Yes," Hiccup replied without hesitation.

"And it can feel?"

"It's designed to."

Cami brushed his hands away and stood up. She began pacing the small room while biting her lower lip. Hiccup watched silently, trying to quell the rising fear within. His whole half-baked plan hinged on Cami helping him. If she betrayed him…

"Argh!" Cami groaned. "Why did you have to choose now to get interested in stealing? This is my last week before I leave the Archipelago for a month! My mother just gave me an assignment, and if she thinks I'm not taking preparation seriously, she'll never give me another one."

"I'm sure it's very inconvenient for you that an innocent, thinking creature is about to be tortured and destroyed," Hiccup said angrily. "We only have a week to get him out of there, anyway. That's how long his virtual childhood will last."

Cami scrubbed a hand through her hair. "You come here and tell me I need to help you steal from one of the most secure facilities in the world, and then add that we only have a week to do it in? Are you _crazy?_ "

"You're already inside," Hiccup pointed out. "And you have a mole as well."

Cami stopped pacing and eyed him carefully. "You're seriously ready to betray your company – your _father_ – for a little box?"

"I'm ready to do the right thing, whatever it takes."

That cut through the last of Cami's resistance, and she sank onto the bed beside him with a sigh. Hiccup hesitated before placing his hand on her shoulder. He desperately wanted her to know how much her help meant to him, but couldn't think of a good way to phrase it.

"Is the lab fitted with signal jammers?" Cami spoke as though worn out from the conversation.

"No, but the walls are lined against transmissions, and I can't bring my phone or PDA in there." Hiccup grinned at her acquiescence and Cami gave him a flat look.

"Well, you'll need to sketch the layout of the lab from memory. I'll do some poking around on the floors above and below it to see if there are any weaknesses or access points."

Hiccup was already scribbling madly in his journal. "Uh-huh. What else?"

"A list of everyone with access to the lab over the next week. Most of your scientist buddies were given the week off, right? It should be a pretty short list." Cami's energy returned as she spoke, quickly becoming caught up in the thrill of planning a job. "And find out the names of the guards assigned to the door. At least one of them should be weak-willed enough to fall for me."

"I'll get started," said Hiccup, getting to his feet. Cami grabbed his arm before he could leave.

"No. Go hang out with the other interns. I don't want you doing anything weird and attracting suspicion."

Hiccup snorted. "Hanging out with the others is just about the weirdest thing I could do. I only see them at meal times or in the lab."

"What do you normally do when you get off work, then?"

"Come here? Maybe leave a voicemail with my dad? That's how we communicate these days," he explained.

"Okay, putting aside your terrible relationship with your father, I really need you to not do anything that you wouldn't normally do. Don't try to blend in with the others. Just be your usual weird, awkward self at all times."

* * *

The following day was spent nervously hanging around his room, only venturing out for mealtimes.

"What do I normally do?" he asked the empty room. After Cami had given him his instructions, he'd spent hours debating what would be considered 'normal' for him. It was a pointless mental exercise brought on from anxiety about the coming crime, but it still stuck at the front of his mind like a catchy song.

His mobile rang as he left for dinner. It was Stoick. Hiccup stared at the vibrating chunk of plastic with apprehension. He could answer it. He _should_ answer it, like a good son. But he and his father could never think of anything to say to each other, and it was doubtful this time would be any different. Wouldn't it be better for them both if he just ignored it? There was nothing wrong with communicating via voicemails, despite Cami's opinion.

Hiccup groaned and went to answer the phone just as it stopped ringing. Sighing in relief, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and continued on to the mess hall.

The other interns were at their usual table next to the wall. Hiccup gathered his meal onto a tray and joined them, sitting beside Tuff without anyone noticing.

 _I'm already effectively invisible,_ Hiccup thought wryly. _I should just walk in and take the cube._

"Week-long party, anyone?" Snotlout – Stein – wiggled his eyebrows at Astrid.

"Can't. I'm spending the week as one of Administrator Stoick's aides," Astrid replied, consuming her chicken salad with the efficiency and precision of a robot refilling its oil.

Ruff whistled from the other side of Tuff. "How'd you land that?" she asked.

"Director Ingerman gave me a commendation in her most recent report." Astrid spoke plainly, as though she was unaffected by such high praise, but Hiccup saw a proud stiffness in the way she held herself.

"Hey, Hiccup," said Ruff with a nasty glint in her eye, "Is it weird for you that Astrid's more likely to take over the company after Stoick than you are?"

Hiccup shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't really want to take over. I'm in it for the research."

"Sure," Snotlout sniggered.

Fishlegs looked up from his meal, which caught everyone's attention. "Look!" he gestured with a stick of carrot. "The Translation Team Leader is coming over. Maybe something's happened!"

Sven was indeed approaching, his ginger curls bobbing with each step. "How are my favourite interns?" he asked jovially, folding his arms and coming to a halt in front of the table.

"We're fine, Doctor Bronsen," Astrid replied immediately. "Eager to get back to work."

"You won't be so eager after a week with Stoick. That's a busy job," Sven said with a laugh.

"I'm up for the challenge."

"So I hear. You'll go far, Hofferson, have no fear of that." Hiccup saw Astrid blush for the first time.

"Now," Sven continued with a clap, "Can I borrow Hiccup for a moment?"

Astrid blinked. "Of course," she replied, the unspoken 'why' ghosting across her lips.

"Sven? What's up?" asked Hiccup, rising to his feet. Astrid shot him a disapproving glance for using Sven's first name.

They took a couple of steps away from the other interns. Sven put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Listen, things are getting pretty cool in the lab. I was thinking, if you don't have anything else going on, you could come in and check it out sometime this week. Today, even."

Hiccup nearly laughed at his good luck, even as he swallowed his newfound dislike of Sven. _Pretty cool to torture animals, huh Sven?_ Regardless, a chance to get inside the lab before the week ended would be perfect for some espionage, especially now that Cami could tell him what to look for.

"That sounds great, Sven, but I kinda have to meet someone today," Hiccup replied with a guilty wince as hurt crossed Sven's face. The man clearly thought Hiccup would drop everything for a chance to get back in the lab, especially at such a crucial stage.

The confusion in Sven's eyes turned to suspicion. "This is about that girl, isn't it?"

Hiccup jerked, startled. "What girl?"

"The pretty blonde one with the jacket." Sven's smile grew as Hiccup swallowed reflexively. "Thought so."

Hiccup could sense the other interns listening, as though their ears had all pricked up simultaneously. "I, uh, don't know what you're talking about."

Sven was grinning now. "I overheard you talking to her a few days ago, the day the egg hatched. I seem to recall her saying she was going to take a nap in your room until you were done working."

Hiccup's cheeks heated up as he realised where Sven's imagination had gone. "No, no," he said hurriedly, shaking his head, "That's – I mean, it wasn't what it looked like." He had to shut down this rumour before it started. Cami would probably kill him if she thought he was spreading lies like that.

"It's fine, I won't report you," Sven winked. "Even though interns aren't technically allowed 'visitors'. Just keep it to yourselves, alright?" Without listening to Hiccup's spluttering, Sven strode away chuckling at the 'boisterous youth these days'.

Hiccup returned to the others and resumed eating without making eye contact. Tuff smacked him on the back. "Dude! Why didn't you say you were nailing someone? Is it one of the microbiology chicks? They're super easy."

Ruff leaned across the table and socked her brother on the jaw. "We are not, you tool. What would you even know about chicks anyway?"

As they bickered, Hiccup tried to scoff his breakfast as fast as possible. The eggs he'd been enjoying until Sven arrived were now an obstacle between him and escape.

"You know," said Astrid as the twins calmed down, "If you _do_ have a girlfriend, I doubt she'd appreciate you acting so ashamed of her." Her eyes were as sharp as her tongue, and Hiccup only kept from flinching through sheer force of will.

"Well I don't have a girlfriend," replied Hiccup, "So I'm ashamed of nobody."

"He can't admit he has one, Astrid," said Fishlegs, as always providing insight nobody asked for. "Sven just said interns aren't allowed to have visitors, so if there was no blonde girl in a jacket, there was no rule-breakage. Either that, or he's dating someone that is socially unacceptable in this context. A team leader, maybe?"

Hiccup choked down the last of his toast and rushed to clear away his tray. "Well, see you all tomorrow," he blurted out, moving fast to avoid questions that had no good answer.

* * *

"We can't get the box while it's plugged into the virtual world," Hiccup declared to Cami as they sat in his room. "We'll need to grab it after they disconnect it, but before they reconnect it to whatever machine they're going to use to torture it."

Cami nodded. "That's unfortunate, but I've worked with worse conditions before. Having a free ticket into the lab with that Sven guy is going to be a big help, too. I just need to figure out the best way to use it."

"Did your scouting turn up anything?" Hiccup asked eagerly. An easy way to do this would be very welcome, in his opinion.

"The floor above the lab is office space – way too packed with people to do anything interesting. The floor below is really weird. I found a metal grate covering a ventilation shaft leading into it, but no other entrances."

"Oh, that's because Odin is on that floor. You know, the supercomputer. There are stairs leading down to it from the lab, and there's probably an elevator from one of the upper floors that goes to it as well."

"You can get to the supercomputer from _inside_ the lab?" Cami asked, excited.

"Yeah, though there might be a door at the bottom of the stairs. I haven't been down there."

"If we can get through the grating I found, we could sneak up into the lab and get the cube out that way!"

Hiccup chewed his lip. "That would be way too easy. There's probably a ton of security down there – or even scientists working around the clock."

Cami shook her head with a growing smile. "Hiccup, get me through that grate and I'll have that box out within minutes. We Bogs are no stranger to security systems, but metal bars keep us out just like everything else."

"I'll find a way," Hiccup said resolutely.

Cami patted his head lightly. "There you go. I'll make a criminal out of you yet."

"Er, by the way, one of the team leaders overheard us talking on the day of the hatching," said Hiccup, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"And?" Cami's eyes flashed dangerously.

Hiccup swallowed. "He thinks we're… _together._ And so do the other interns."

He watched the gears working behind Cami's eyes. Then suddenly, she smiled. It wasn't a nasty smile either, just her usual clever one. "That's fine. Useful, actually. They don't know I'm a Bog Burglar, do they?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Great. Having a secret boyfriend means I have a handy cover story if someone asks why I'm always hanging out around here."

"Really? I thought you'd be furious."

Cami laughed. "You're not _that_ bad of a catch, Hiccup. Brains go a long way, these days. I could totally stand being seen with you for minutes at a time."

"Stop, you're flattering me," Hiccup replied dryly.

"Anyway, we need to talk about what you're gonna look for when you go into the lab tomorrow. Take Sven up on his offer, but try to stay on the sidelines when you're in there. Ask questions if you think that's what's expected, but otherwise just try to make mental notes about a few things. Namely, how the cube can be removed. What kind of bag would I need to carry it around? Does it need a power source? Are there any devices in there necessary for it work?"

Hiccup nodded at each item on the list. Tomorrow was going to get busy.

Before Cami left for the night, she hovered in his doorway for a few minutes, instructing him to be quiet when he asked why. Her hands suddenly ruffled her own hair, and then his. She shook his shirt slightly and scrunched it up in random places.

"Hey, I ironed that this morning," he complained.

"Shush."

Cami pulled some perfume out of her bag and gave herself a squirt before pulling him into a hug, making them both smell like her. Hiccup caught on to what she was doing and fought down his blushes. It wouldn't do for Cami to know how many times he'd fantasised about being in this position before. Well, maybe not in these exact circumstances, but it was close enough.

They stood completely still, listening as footsteps approached. When the steps were a couple of steps away, Cami backed out the door to make herself visible to the unknown person in the hallway. She was wearing a coy smile.

"So when are you finally going to let me show you my place?" she asked with a demure twist of her hips. "Tomorrow?"

Hiccup summoned the most convincing smile he could manage. "I'll be in the lab tomorrow. How about Wednesday?"

Cami huffed and rolled her eyes. "So the lab is more important than me?"

"I – uh, no, of course not," Hiccup said, completely unsure of where Cami wanted him to take this. "Wednesday. Trust me, we'll spend the whole day together."

A glint in Cami's eye told him he'd said the right thing. Her feigned expression of annoyance dissolved into a perky grin. "I'll hold you to that."

As she turned to leave, his newfound confidence caused him to blurt out what he'd been thinking for a while. "What, no kiss?"

Cami flashed him a wink. "I'll save it for Wednesday. That way I know you'll keep your word."

As she flounced away, she passed Astrid without stopping. The Intern Team Leader was standing still in the corridor, staring at the other blonde until she vanished around a corner. Then, with agonising slowness, Astrid turned and met Hiccup's gaze.

He saw her eyes flit over his ruffled hair and wrinkled shirt. He even noticed her nostrils dilate as the perfume hit her. Her brow narrowed disapprovingly, but she didn't say a word as she strode past him and made for her room.

Hiccup released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. Astrid wouldn't report him. Getting the Administrator's son in trouble while also trying to please said Administrator probably wouldn't work out very well. But that didn't mean she couldn't silently judge him for breaking the rules.

He retreated inside his room once more and closed the door. It took him a moment to remember all of the instructions Cami had given, so he wrote them down in his journal. Perhaps it wasn't the most secure method, but it was safer than keeping it on a computer, and it wasn't like there wasn't a ton of weird stuff in his journals already.

What can cut through a steel grate?

A blowtorch. _No way. It would take too much time, not to mention getting a blowtorch, fuel, and safety gear to the grate wouldn't leave much for the security guys to figure out._

Explosives. _Absolutely not. Even if I had the materials, I'm not a bomb expert and neither is Cami (I hope). Plus, an improvised explosive device could do more damage than intended, especially in such tight quarters._

A wrench. _Is the grate just bolted on? If so, this is possible. It's easy to hide a wrench, but it would likely take a mechanical one to get industrial bolts out. It would also be very slow and easy to get caught doing._

Best solution? _Cami thinks she can get in and out in only a few minutes. With a properly timed distraction, the area around the grate could be cleared enough for a very quick, loud bit of metalworking. Nothing with explosions, as they would be felt all over the facility, and nothing that requires a lot of equipment._

Hiccup chewed the end of his pen. There was one possibility, but it didn't technically exist yet.

* * *

It was midnight before Hiccup finally surrendered to his drooping eyelids. Holographic blueprints were dismissed from their hovering position in the centre of his room, and he did his best to clear away the random sheets of paper cramped with equations and circuit diagrams.

It would work.

Theoretically.

At least, the maths and physics checked out, and he wasn't in the habit of making mistakes. That said, even the most careful blueprints couldn't survive the first iteration of an invention. He needed a well-equipped workshop to go any further, and it didn't look like he'd be able to get to one until Wednesday. That would leave only two days to get the thing working and teach Cami how to use it.

Hiccup dreamed of perfume and steel, and a little cube that was slipping closer and closer towards an abyss.

When he woke, there was no bleariness or fatigue in his limbs. For the first time since he was a child, Hiccup got out of bed and threw himself into his morning routine. He led the way to the mess hall for breakfast, and devoured his poached eggs as though they were the last of their kind.

"Someone's extra hungry this morning," Tuff said with a grin, sitting beside Hiccup. "Work up an appetite, didja?"

Hiccup ignored him and drained his orange juice in one go.

"Was it a midnight visit?" Ruff joined in, sitting on the other side of Hiccup. "Come on, none of us will report you." She threw a glance at Astrid, who pointedly focused on her own breakfast. "Well, most of us won't."

"Personally, I don't see the point in not allowing interns to have 'visitors'," Fishlegs commented. "I mean, wouldn't it at least help keep our stress levels down? Reduce blood pressure, all that?"

"The _point_ ," Astrid said irritably, "Is that interns shouldn't be getting distracted from their work."

"I can multitask," Hiccup said with a friendly smile. _Alright, maybe I can enjoy this a little. As long as Cami doesn't find out._

Ruff and Tuff hooted with laughter, and Astrid's expression darkened. Hiccup hurriedly returned to his meal, unwilling to poke the lion any further. Fun was fun, but nobody ever called Hiccup stupid.

It was time to meet Sven.

The Translation Team Leader led Hiccup into the lab not long after breakfast. Almost immediately, Hiccup began scanning the room for useful details, determined to bring a wealth of information back to Cami. She was risking her neck for him, after all, so he couldn't really afford to cut corners.

It was strange, viewing the lab from a thief's perspective. He noticed the security cameras for the first time, along with infrared sensors on the walls, currently deactivated. The Emulator remained atop the larger containment cube, between the two cylindrical adapters, which were currently blue.

Hiccup remembered that the adapters were held in place by magnetic attraction and nothing else, so they would be easy to detach. But the Emulator itself… He would need to find out how to make it disconnect from the containment cube beneath it.

"Sven," he asked, "What's the power source for the Emulator?"

"It _is_ a power source," Sven replied distractedly as he watched his team work. "Atom manipulation generates a metric shit-ton of energy. That's what the containment cube is for – to keep it from blowing a fuse and ripping the lab apart."

Hiccup swallowed. That was slightly more dangerous than he'd expected. How the hell was he supposed to contain that much energy once the cube was out of the lab? The containment cube was a metre cubed and attached to the floor – there was no way Cami could get it out too.

"How much energy are we talking, here?" he asked.

Sven waved his hand vaguely. "I don't know the upper limit off the top of my head. The excess energy slowly builds up until it reaches enough to power a city block."

Hiccup stared at the containment cube with a twinge of fear. "So all that's standing between us and a nuclear firestorm is that containment system?"

Sven finally lost his patience. "There's no radioactive material in there, so no. The power build up is slow, so no. The containment cube will shut the Emulator down if it suddenly became incapable of handling the energy, so no. Now, Hiccup, please shut up. I brought you in here to spectate, not play scientific Pursuit Trivia."

The silence that followed was awkward, but Hiccup kept his mouth shut and let them work. It felt bad being scolded by Sven, but then, he was the same kind of guy who would create a consciousness only to torture it to death, so who cared what he thought?

When he left the lab a couple of hours later, Hiccup's head was so full of information he needed to add to the plan that it felt as though his temples were bulging. He skipped dinner just so he could dive straight into his journal and get it all out before he forgot.

On Wednesday morning, he took the journal with him as he left the facility. It had been a while since he'd been outside properly, but the overcast sky looked the same as ever. The compound was situated at the top of a jagged hill, separate from the city proper. There were a few roads leading down, and all were riddled with security checkpoints and guard towers. He started walking down one of the roads towards the company train station.

Hiccup's phone rang and he put it through to his earpiece. Cami had bought (RE: stolen) it for him a few birthdays ago, due to his habit of ignoring calls while working with his hands.

"Hiccup Haddock," he said, bracing as an arctic wind hit him. Inside the carefully- controlled facility, it was easy to forget just how cold the region truly was.

"You still sound so formal," Cami's voice replied. She sounded like she was eating something crunchy. "One of these days I'll convince you to start answering your phone with 'what's up, motherfucker?'"

"Good luck with that. I'm heading out now, where should we meet? I need a workshop."

"Up for a trip to my place?"

Hiccup snorted. "I don't really feel like a five hour ferry ride. Don't you have a place in Berk you use when you're not bothering me?"

Cami paused to munch on something. "Yeah, but it's not suitable for this sort of thing. My aunt owned a workshop in western Berk that I inherited when she died though, so let's use that. Should have everything you need to work your nerdy magic."

An hour and a half later, Hiccup stood beside Cami in a rusty warehouse on the seldom-used western docks of Berk. There were large, angular machines covered in sheets lining the walls, and Hiccup sneezed seven times when he yanked the first one down.

"How long has this stuff just been sitting here?" he snuffled, eyes watering.

Cami shrugged as she effortlessly uncovered three other machines – a lathe, a saw, and a welding station. "A couple of months. She kept it pretty up-to-date, but I didn't really have a use for it."

"Good thing I roped you into this," he replied before launching into a new round of sneezes.

"Maybe I _wanted_ you to rope me into it. Maybe stealing the cube was never your idea to begin with. Maybe I've been expertly manipulating you this whole time." Cami gave him a smug, knowing look that he didn't believe for a second.

"Not bad. That might've worked on me when I was four or five."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

And they got to work.

Hiccup tossed her the journal full of security details, then rolled up his sleeves and began inspecting some of the scrap metal lying nearby. The welding station was warming up, along with the soldering station, and the circuit board printer was following the designs he'd saved to his PDA.

He stared at a black sheet of metal in the pile, then yanked it out. "Whoa!" he gasped. "Your aunt left this much carbon fibre lying around? She sounds more like an engineer than a Bog Burglar."

Cami glanced up from the journal. "She always was the odd one out. You probably would've had an even bigger crush on her than you have on me."

Hiccup staggered slightly as he carried the sheet of carbon fibre over to the main workstation. "Funny. Anyway, I was going to use titanium, but this might work even better."

"Just build whatever you need to build to get me past that steel grate without getting shot. I don't care what you use."

Hiccup suppressed his annoyance with his partner in crime. She didn't understand the significance of what he was about to invent, but then, few people ever would, if things went well. He briefly mourned the fact that his most brilliant idea yet would never be acknowledged publicly. Then he went about shaping a portion of the carbon fibre into a foot-long narrow rectangular prism.

Next came the circuit board, which required no small amount of soldering to a supercharged car battery's internal components, along with a few bits and pieces from a microwave and hot water heater. The end result was a grey box the same shape as a car battery, but half the size. It wasn't pretty, but it would work. Probably.

Finally, the most complicated part: an intricate lattice of superconductive metal encircling the carbon fibre he'd shaped. Hours slipped by as he worked on integrating all of the parts together, but not once did he question how possible it was. He'd done the math, made the blueprints. All that remained was a prototype.

The assembly was completed by dusk, by which time Cami had left and returned several times with snacks for them both. She was sketching a large, visual plan on some sheets of paper taped together on the floor, like a mat. It appeared to be a series of possible problems and easy solutions for the coming heist. Hiccup took a moment from admiring his own handiwork to appreciate Cami's dedication to her trade.

"I'm done," he called, yanking off his thick work gloves and grinning at the monster sitting on the table before him.

Cami heaved herself to her feet and wandered over to have a look.

"A knife?" she asked sceptically, probably knowing he would immediately launch into a defensive description of his invention.

He didn't disappoint. "A thirty-centimetre long carbon fibre rectangular prism encircled by a thin superconductive metal lattice. The shielded rubber handle connects via these two wires to the modified car battery, which is small enough to be worn under clothing."

"So, what? I can zap people with my blunt-ass dagger?"

Hiccup shook his head with a growing smile. "Not quite. You see, the carbon fibre is just a structure that holds everything in place – the lattice is the dangerous part. It generates heat when it strikes something. The modified battery is actually a machine that converts the absorbed kinetic energy to heat, then amplifies it. In short, the harder you hit something, the hotter the lattice becomes."

"How hot are we talking here?"

Hiccup flicked the switch on the power pack, formerly the car battery, and picked up the 'dagger' by the handle. A rod of stainless steel was clenched between two vices at the next table along, and Hiccup wasted no time in slamming the dagger down upon them – cleaving straight through. At the moment of impact, the lattice around the 'blade' became red hot, and the sudden, blinding heat sheared through the steel rod without impediment.

"Very hot," he replied.

Cami had the gall to continue to look suspicious for a few more seconds before grinning. "Alright, that's actually pretty damn cool. The steel grate was thicker than that rod, though."

Hiccup shrugged as he turned off the power pack. "And you're probably stronger than I am. It will work."

"I can't believe the shit we're going through for a tiny cube." Cami rubbed her eyes with her palms. "Argh, I still have to prepare for my mother's assignment on Friday. I'll be gone for a whole month, remember, so if this heist fails we won't get another chance."

"We'll save him," Hiccup said resolutely. "Speaking of which, I've been thinking about how we're going to store the cube when we get it back here. It's occurred to me that if I don't provide any forms of sensory input, I'll just be trading one form of torture for another."

Cami stopped rubbing her eyes to peer up at him. "Yeah?"

Hiccup cut to the chase. "I need to build him a body."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Don't worry, we'll meet Toothless properly just as soon as the plot allows.**

 **Call me a stickler for detail, but I try to be fairly logical in my plot progression (even if I take liberties with the science now and then).**

 **Let me know if you're enjoying the story!**


	4. Thief

**Chapter 4: Thief**

It wasn't as simple as just building a robot.

Hiccup had been building robots since he was little, but he'd never attempted anything as big as this before. He knew right away that if he was going to do this, he had to go all the way, which meant a complete, life-sized robotic replica of a Night Fury.

 _Yeah, definitely haven't built one of those before._

A second realisation followed closely on the heels of the first: he didn't have nearly enough time to build a proper body.

"Shit," he breathed, staring around at the many machines available to him. He could do it, just not in one day. It would take time to make the blueprints and work the math – much more time than the dagger had taken. Weeks, maybe months.

What could he give to the little dragon consciousness in the meantime? The poor guy needed to at least be able to move and see, or existence would be horrible. Hiccup shuddered at the thought of being formless in an empty void. Outside of the virtual world, the Night Fury was essentially a brain in a jar.

"Language," Cami sang, tipping a packet of gummy bears into her mouth.

"Don't you have a heist to plan?" Hiccup shot back, fiddling with a screwdriver.

"I'm done."

"Done? In what, a couple of days? I think you might be underestimating the security in Odin's room. Even now that you can get past the grate, you'll still have to make it to the stairs and up into the lab – not to mention we still have to think of a good distraction to lure people away from the grate area."

Cami threw the half-empty packet at him. "What do you take me for, some kind of hack? I've been robbing places since I was a toddler, Hiccup, so keep the second-guessing to yourself. As long as your dagger thing works, I'll keep my side of the deal."

Hiccup picked up the packet and sullenly stuffed his mouth with gummy bears.

"Don't sulk while eating, you look ridiculous," Cami snorted.

"I'm not sulking," Hiccup sulked.

The light from the windows high up on each of the tall walls had vanished, replaced with dim moonlight. Hiccup stretched his arms, wincing at every pop and crackle. Being able to focus completely on a project was handy, but it had downsides too. His stomach gurgled.

"I need to have dinner. Are there any buses running to the train station this late at night?" he said, pulling on his jacket. "The mess hall is probably closed by now, but I keep a stash of noodles in my room."

"Orrr we can get some takeaway and stay here."

"Somebody will notice if I don't come back to the facility."

Cami laughed. "Yeah, that's the point. You're spending an evening at your girlfriend's place, remember? That's your alibi."

Hiccup supposed that made sense. "Where are we going to sleep? I mean, this place has pretty good heating, but it's not exactly a five-star resort." He gestured at the cavernous warehouse around them.

"The office has a fold-out couch. Don't be a baby." Cami was pulling on her own jacket, a much thicker one than usual. The Arctic temperature meant she could only flaunt her figure indoors, or else ruin the effect by shivering. "Come on, roast chicken awaits."

* * *

They sat on the edge of the warehouse roof, letting their feet dangle over the choppy water far below. While looking for a suitable place to consume their little boxes of chicken and chips, they had found a small spiral staircase in the warehouse office leading to the roof. After a bit of coaxing from Cami, Hiccup had agreed to eat in the freezing cold instead the nice and warm office.

"Hey, if you kinda think about it," said Cami, chomping a chip in half, "We're stopping an abortion by stealing the cube. Cause, y'know, the Night Fury is just a baby at the moment."

Hiccup began to reply while drinking his soft drink and accidentally inhaled some of it. After a coughing fit and a few hearty whacks on the back from Cami, he wheezed out a reply. "We don't abort babies that have already been born, though. Abortions only happen when it's just a tiny bundle of organic matter."

"So when does it become a baby?"

Clearing his throat, Hiccup waved his hand vaguely. "Who knows. These chips are way too salty, don't you think?"

Cami pressed him again. "No, really, what do you think? When does a 'bundle of organic matter' become a person?"

Hiccup shrugged uncomfortably. "Ethically, when it develops nerves and the capacity to feel pain. Medically, when its heart forms and begins to beat. Scientifically, when its brain begins to show activity. I don't know if any of those are right, or if there even _is_ a right answer. I mean, we're trying to put an arbitrary starting point on existence so we know when it's okay to end it. Something tells me we'll never find a satisfying answer."

"Chickens can think and feel pain," Cami pointed out, waggling a drumstick imperiously.

Hiccup laughed. "Yeah, but how many chicken scholars have you met?"

"Just one," she replied cheekily.

"Har, har. Anyway, chickens aren't capable of complex thought, so we don't mind killing and eating them. Plus, y'know, that's nature. Babies aren't capable of complex thought either, but they're the same species as us, so it goes against our best interests to harm them."

"Or maybe the chickens are smarter than us," Cami whispered conspicuously. "They're biding their time, letting us breed them in greater and greater numbers, until one day, BAM, revolution."

Hiccup frowned in mild annoyance as he accidentally dropped a chip into the water below. "Most birds evolved from dinosaurs, remember. Chickens probably used to be velociraptors or something. They had their time at the top, eating everything else. Now it's their turn to get eaten."

"Uh-huh. And what happens next? Will we get our turn?"

Hiccup swallowed a mouthful of chicken and dropped the bone back into the box. "Next," he said slowly, picking up his soft drink with his left hand, "We live forever, and nothing ever changes."

Cami scooped up her own drink and knocked it against his. "I'll hold you to that."

They drank, and Hiccup felt the knots in his stomach unravel. Tomorrow, Cami would break into the Hooligan Foundation's most secure facility, and Ragnarök had a good chance of coming early.

But in that moment, he felt an odd sort of peace come over him. No matter what happened, he knew he was doing the right thing. Hiccup took Cami's hand and squeezed it, fully expecting her to shove him away and laugh.

Instead, she squeezed back. Considering there was a very real chance they'd never be able to bond like this again, Hiccup was glad she'd lowered her guard, if only a little.

* * *

The day of the heist had arrived.

Thursday, the Nineteenth of May.

A pretty average day, by all appearances. Hiccup remained in the workshop, working on the Night Fury's temporary body. He glanced at the clock several times a minute, to the point where he needed to turn it off just to get some kind of focus going.

Since a true Night Fury automaton would need far more parts and a lot of planning, Hiccup was settling for a much smaller body, about the size of an average dog. It was by no means easy, but it was certainly more doable than the full-size version. Plus, the more he thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed. The Night Fury was still very young anyway, so it would expect a small body. Sure, he was basing that line of thinking off some dodgy articles published in a less-than-prestigious academic journal, but hope based on shaky evidence was better than no hope at all.

It was nearing midday by the time he finished. Through reconstructions of Night Fury physiology uploaded publicly by Hooligan scientists, he had shaped the small bundle of servos and actuators into the closest thing to a Night Fury that had existed in centuries. The only part missing was a space for the cube to sit, and two clips that would hold the adaptors in place.

The adaptors were the key to everything. Without them, the Emulator couldn't receive input, and no matter how many robotic dragons he built, it would never be able to 'drive' them. In terms of value, the adaptors were below only the cube itself. Fortunately, he had already made Cami well aware of that before she left that morning.

It had been a kind-of awkward night, sharing the fold-out bed with each other. Hiccup had been very careful not to reveal how much he was enjoying the fact that everyone believed they were a couple. Part of him wanted to hang around in public just so Cami would slip into her role and start hanging off his arm like she did when they got takeaway the previous night. Hiccup loved the way she'd clung to him as they walked the streets and catwalks of Berk. She made him feel strong and confident, and that was a rare thing indeed.

He turned the clock back on. It was almost midday, which meant the heist was in progress. Hiccup had a part to play, but it didn't involve stealth and security systems. He simply had to be seen having lunch at a café. There were lipstick marks on his collar and his clothes were deliberately crumpled, as though they'd been tossed on the floor in wild abandon. Considering the Hooligan Foundation owned all of Berk, word of his 'lunch of shame' would almost certainly circulate to the right people, clearing him of any direct involvement in the heist.

Paranoia: weird for normal people, _fantastic_ for criminals.

The city streets were almost always blanketed in shadows due to the innumerable high-rise buildings around, but the noon sun managed to pierce the lowest depths and illuminate a world of traffic and slow, meandering pedestrians lining grey streets.

Only the lower side of Berk had any natural parks or greenery because it was less built-up, which meant the hard-packed layer of dirt that formed the artificial island's base was closer to the surface and therefore more accessible. This far downtown, however, it was metal and pavement as far as the eye could see. Roof gardens were becoming popular, Hiccup had heard, and the Hooligan Foundation allowed them because it made the city look natural and 'eco-friendly' from the air, which was good for PR. There was a TV special every now and then showcasing Berk's high-tech underground farms and making wild claims about how independent the island was becoming.

Hiccup knew the reality: ninety percent of Berk was dependent on imported goods from the massive southern docks. The food usually came from nearby Scandinavian countries, with occasional cargo from the United Kingdom or France. That was why the western docks were nearly abandoned in comparison with the south – they were _just_ inefficient enough to make them worthless.

 _Well, worthless to anyone but conniving criminals._

The café was lively and full of colour, but Hiccup barely tasted the sandwich he ordered. His gut protested at each bite, claiming it was far too tense to accept any more food.

 _Cami could be in custody right now._ _Or riddled with bullets._

He was nearly sick just thinking about it.

As badly as he wanted to rush back to the facility to try and bail Cami out of trouble, it wasn't part of the plan. Hiccup was supposed to return to the workshop after his highly-visible lunch so that when Cami returned – _if_ she returned – he would be present to install the cube in the little robotic body he'd prepared earlier.

His phone rang just as he entered the workshop. It was his father. It was only after Hiccup pressed the 'answer' button that he realised just how desperate for news he was.

"Dad?" he said, a little too quickly. Hiccup took some slow breaths to calm down.

"Son?" Stoick's voice replied, sounding surprised that Hiccup had actually answered his phone for once. "Where are you?"

"I'm at a friend's place," said Hiccup. He wanted to avoid lying directly to his father, simply because he was terrible at it.

"Which friend?"

Hiccup's breath hitched. As far as he knew, Stoick didn't know about his friendship with Cami.

Stoick continued before Hiccup was forced to make up a fake name. "Never mind that, look, Hiccup, I need you to get back to the lab as soon as possible. We're in lockdown, but the guards will know to let you through."

"Lockdown?" Hiccup repeated, a jolt of hope surging in his chest.

"There's been a… robbery. Just get back here as soon as possible, son."

"I'm on my way."

"Good." The call cut off just as Hiccup was basking in the mild achievement of making it through an entire conversation with his dad.

"You gonna help me with this, or what?" said Cami from beside a workbench. Hiccup hadn't even noticed her.

"Cami!" He sprinted over and went to hug her, only to be robbed of his momentum as a sack slammed into his chest. "What – wait, is this…?"

"One cube, two adapters, and a souvenir or two," the thief replied with a proud grin, though sweat matted her hair and she panted slightly.

"Did you have any trouble?" Hiccup stared at Cami, his worry eclipsing his desire to retrieve the cube for at least a few more seconds.

"Hardly. My noisemakers pulled people away from the grate, and the grate's alarms weren't anything special. Your dagger works like a dream, by the way." She patted the power pack at her waist and the sheath beside it. "I think I'll keep it, as payment."

Hiccup nodded hurriedly. "Yes, of course, anything you want. What about Odin's floor? What happened?"

Cami adopted a ponderous look as she continued. "It looked as though it was going to be tough, but that was until I realised half of the infrared sensors were off, as though they hadn't finished being installed yet. Not only that, but the door leading up to the lab opened automatically! I think it might be a fire safety thing, like the door was programmed to only keep people out, not in."

Hiccup listened with absolute focus. "And the lab itself?"

"I couldn't risk using most of my counter-electronics stuff in case it hurt the cube, so I had to do it the old-fashioned way: I yanked the cube and the adapters and booked it back downstairs. The fire safety rules state that labs should be evacuated first, and I guess my noisemakers convinced them there was a need to sound the alarms. Either that, or the lab had hidden sensors I didn't detect."

"What about the cameras?"

Cami looked offended. "Hiccup, taking out cameras before they spot you is pre-school stuff. I'm a professional. The only cameras that might have seen me were the ones in the main corridors, and they were full of people by the time I left Odin's floor. I just faded into the crowd and slipped out the maintenance door, which was automatically unlocked because of the alarms."

Hiccup blinked. "Well, that… that sounds… perfect? It went perfectly?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Cami said cockily, flopping into a chair and putting her feet on the workbench. "Now don't you have a baby dragon to play with?"

Hiccup started as he remembered the sack in his hands. He withdrew the Emulator, noting that there were more than a few other 'souvenirs' in there as well. Clearly, Cami had been in top form today.

Hiccup held the cube in his hands, gasping as he felt a current of energy swell in the air. He quickly set the Emulator on the workbench, and the energy dissipated. "Wow," he breathed hoarsely. "Even just the circuit created by human bodies is enough to make it release energy. At least it doesn't happen quickly enough to electrocute someone."

Cami sat up straight. "Wait, were you unsure about whether it was safe to pick up?"

Hiccup shrugged as he retrieved the adaptors from the sack. "There were many possible things that could've gone wrong. If I'd taken the time to write a full risk evaluation, the Night Fury would already be hooked up to the torture device."

"You _prick!_ " Cami laughed. He never knew why the idea of being in mortal peril brought a grin to her face instead of a scowl, but she'd been that way since they were kids.

The short, cylindrical adaptors were dull red at the moment. Hiccup placed one on either side of the Emulator, and they snapped into place once their magnetic pull took over. The red became a murky blue.

"I think it's sleeping, or at least dormant in some way," he said. "If it was 'awake', it would probably be freaking out since it's no longer connected to the virtual world."

"Better transplant it into that robo-dog you built, then."

Hiccup stiffened. "It's a small Night Fury, not a dog. You can clearly see from how I've designed the facial structure –"

"So where are his wings?" Cami reached over to poke the robot, which lay in a heap beside the Emulator.

"Wings are complicated, alright?" Hiccup huffed as he began to install the Emulator and accompanying adaptors into the prototype dragon. "I didn't have time to figure out how to make him fly."

Cami seemed to realise he was genuinely annoyed that he hadn't been able to create a complete robot in time, as she quieted down. Hiccup bit his lip as the last few connections were attached to the adaptors, and the Emulator slid into place right inside the robot's chest cavity.

Hiccup closed the panel and held his breath. The light from the adaptors shone through cracks behind the two cameras he'd installed in the ocular cavities of the metal 'face' of the dragon. The blue was becoming brighter, clearer.

"Ohhh man," he said nervously, "I think he's waking up."

Cami got to her feet and squeezed next to him, their heads almost touching as they stared in wonder at the metallic Night Fury.

The light remained bright, but slowly shifted towards a murky yellow.

"What does that mean?" Cami whispered.

"I have no idea," Hiccup replied softly.

The cameras began to shift and turn, the inner lens focusing and dilating in stiff, jerking movements. The servos and internal machinery began to whir as power flooded into them, and the four stubby legs began to curl and un-curl.

The Night Fury shot to its feet in an instant. Hiccup and Cami leapt back with simultaneous yelps of surprise. The metal dragon clattered around the workbench, knocking tools away haphazardly. Its mouth opened and closed repeatedly, and Hiccup realised he hadn't provided any way for the dragon to vocalise: it couldn't roar or growl, nor whine and whimper.

From its erratic movements, it was clear the poor guy was extremely confused by its new body and surroundings. It moved clumsily, a result of adjusting from the perfectly recreated virtual body to this very real, very crude imitation. Hiccup watched helplessly as the Night Fury fell from the workbench and started throwing itself across the warehouse floor.

"What do we do?" asked Cami.

"How should I know?!" Hiccup replied, his voice cracking. "Hopefully he'll calm down soon. If not…"

The Night Fury seemed to be adjusting to its new body, as it began rampaging with far more precision, slamming against machines, constantly moving its mouth in an attempt to voice its frustrations.

"Uh," said Hiccup.

"What?" Cami glanced at him.

"I just realised it doesn't have muscles, or lungs, or a heart. It can't get tired unless something sends the right signal to the Emulator."

"Great," Cami said sarcastically. A loud clang echoed from somewhere further into the warehouse. The Night Fury was visible now and then as it raced between machines, occasionally stopping to throw itself against something. Hiccup noted that it was moving rather stiffly, but adapting well to its new form.

"Maybe he will get mentally tired instead?" Hiccup said hopefully. "Once he's dormant again, I'll work on improving his body until it's more like the one he had in the virtual world."

"Hey, Hiccup, did you make sure there was no way for it to get out of the warehouse?" Cami asked suddenly.

"No," Hiccup whimpered. "No, I did not."

The warehouse was silent. The Night Fury was either calming down, or…

They split up immediately, Hiccup racing up the left row of machines, Cami on the right. Lathes, fabricators, welding stations, drills, and saws flashed past them as they checked every hidey-hole big enough to house the young Night Fury.

"Hiccup!" Cami called from across the warehouse. Hiccup booked it over to her, only to see her crawl through a rusty hole in the back of a disused filing cabinet – a hole that just happened to be in the warehouse wall as well, leading out onto the cement pavement between the workshop and the next building along, an abandoned scrapyard.

"If it's in there, we'll never find it!" he said hopelessly.

Cami pulled him down the alley and out into the street. "Look, that trash can wasn't knocked over when I arrived!"

They followed the trail of destruction through the darkening streets, occasionally pausing to listen as the sound of metal feet scrabbling on pavement became audible. It was with horror that Hiccup realised they were heading further into the city. They were still in the less-populated area of western Berk, but if even one person spotted the Night Fury and reported it to the Berk Police Department, there was a chance the other team members would put the pieces together and figure out what the Emulator had been stolen for.

Hiccup rounded a corner just ahead of Cami, and they saw a flash of metal disappear into a café, followed by the screams of patrons. After exchanging terrified looks, they bolted through the glass doors so hard that the bell above them fell to the floor.

There were three people in the café, including the owner. Two of them were young women who looked to be only a couple of years older than Hiccup. They were standing on the chairs in their booth, staring at the back door. The owner had a phone hanging loosely from her hand, as though she'd been in the middle of a conversation.

"Did my dog come through here?" Cami asked breathlessly.

"That was a _dog?_ " shrieked one of the women in the booth, her dark curls bobbing in indignation. "It was a little monster, that's what it was!"

"He just isn't used to the new coat I bought him," Hiccup jumped in. "You know, to protect him from the cold."

"It looked like it was made of metal!"

"Well, yeah, it's an electronically heated coat. We're dealing with arctic winds here, after all."

The second booth lady, wearing a dark purple overcoat, glared at him. "You put a metal coat on her dog? With no thought as to how it would affect its balance and coordination? If animal services heard of this…"

Cami grabbed Hiccup by the hand and led him through the café to the back door. "We've clearly already realised it was a bad idea, Miss Judgemental Stranger! Thanks for the advice!"

They burst out the back door into an alley lined with dumpsters. A little further down, there was a barrel with flames rising from within.

"Looks like someone was using this to heat their hands a few hours ago, and didn't put it out," said Cami.

As they approached, the barrel rocked slightly.

"Of course," Hiccup muttered. "He's attracted to fire. Why am I such an idiot?"

Cami picked up a trash can lid and crept closer to the barrel. Just as she went to put the lid in place, she peeked inside.

"Hiccup!" she hissed.

Hiccup darted over to join her. Inside the barrel, the metal Night Fury was curled in a ball. The half-smothered flames licked over his body as the glow from the adapters faded from bright yellow to dull blue.

"He's dormant again. Quick, let's get this barrel back to the workshop," he said.

With a heave, they lifted the barrel and tottered their way through the backstreets to the warehouse.

As the Night Fury slept, Hiccup and Cami made a thorough sweep of the workshop, welding scrap metal over any openings the dragon might fit through.

"That was a mistake I won't make again," said Hiccup, flopping into an armchair in the office. The barrel sat in the centre of the room, smoking slightly. The fire had run out of fuel before they reached the workshop, and the residual smoke was directed by a desk fan towards the spiral staircase leading up to the roof.

"I guess there aren't really any handy online guides for this sort of thing," Cami admitted. "How To Train Your Dragon, or something. Or more likely, 'Check out these six jaw-dropping ways to train a fire-breathing lizard!'"

Despite his aching arms, Hiccup decided it wouldn't be wise to procrastinate any longer. He reached into the barrel and retrieved the scorched robot from the ashes. He heard Cami hold her breath as he carried the Night Fury into the workshop, but the adapters remained dim blue.

"Ah, damn it," he muttered, removing the Emulator and inspecting the robot. "I'm going to have to replace most of this."

"Weren't you going to do that anyway?"

"Yeah, but not right away. I only built this thing this morning." His eyes widened. "My dad called me back to the facility just after midday! I have to go!"

"Wait!" Cami called as Hiccup rushed out of the workshop. "What do I do with this guy?"

"Nothing, he should sleep for a while! I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Hiccup bolted for the nearest bus stop.

* * *

It was eight in the evening by the time Hiccup was waved through security and allowed into the facility. His stomach was twisted in worry at what his father was going to say. Maybe Cami had made a mistake, maybe everybody already knew what he'd done. Maybe the people at that café hadn't bought his and Cami's lies after all.

Hiccup found everyone standing the corridor outside the lab. All of the doors were open, there were twice as many guards, and forensics teams were visible inside, combing over everything with fine tools.

Stoick stood in the middle of the corridor, flanked by his advisors. Sven and his team stood to one side, and the VR team stood to the other. Astrid, along with the other interns, were in a small group nearby. Director Ingerman paced up and down, hard lines creasing her friendly face.

Hiccup's arrival attracted every eye towards him. "Sorry I'm late, Dad," he panted. "I don't have a car, so it took a while to –"

"I called you just after midday," Stoick thundered. "It doesn't take eight hours to get here from – where were you, anyway?"

Hiccup opened his mouth, but Stoick waved a hand and continued. "Nevermind. I'll deal with you later. Now, as I was saying, our insurance will cover the damage done to our security systems, and we will plug the hole in our security on Odin's floor. But none of that brings our project back. While our investigators search for it, the project as a whole will be suspended. The teams will be assigned to assist different projects in the meantime."

Hiccup watched the faces of each scientist fall or even tear up. This project had been their ticket to greatness, and Hiccup had swiped it out of their reach at the last second. In his head, he repeated _I did the right thing_ over and over, clinging to it like a drowning man to driftwood.

Sven's expression was horrifying: the laid-back redhead had a disgusted sneer on his lips, and his eyes possessed a coldness that had been absent before. Director Ingerman only had wrinkles in the corners of her eyes to show that she had ever smiled throughout her life, and her expression was so grave it was hard to believe she knew what happiness was.

The other interns just seemed shocked at the turn of events, keeping quiet and out of the way, not knowing how to deal with such a serious situation. All except Astrid, whose eyes blazed with fury at whomever at disrupted the project. Hiccup recoiled a little when she glanced at him, but it seemed his presence didn't bother her as much as it did. What was one annoying co-worker weighed against a loss like this?

"As for the intern team, I'm afraid we'll have to release you from your contracts for now," said Stoick, sending a ripple of gasps through the small group. "You're still promising members of our company, but we are legally required to give you work, and this was the only project suitable for intern involvement."

Astrid bowed her head, hands curled into fists. In a rare show of compassion, Stoick gripped her shoulder. "There will be another time," he promised. "We look after our own."

Astrid met his gaze and visibly calmed down a little. "We are yours to assign as you see fit, sir," she replied firmly. An understanding passed between them that Hiccup had certainly never experienced while talking to his father, and the Administrator turned back to the team leaders to give them their new assignments.

Gobber came over to them and patted Hiccup on the arm. "Cheer up, you lot. It's not the end of the world. We're not throwing you out onto the streets or anything, and you can still use the mess hall and the gym and all that. Before long, we'll have the project back and ready for you to amaze us with those degrees of yours, eh?"

Hiccup remembered he had a part to play. "Uh, Gobber? I got here late," he whispered. "Did something get stolen?"

Gobber exhaled and Ruff and Tuff sniggered quietly. Very quietly. "Come with me, ya lazy runt. I'll fill you in. The rest of you, go get some dinner. Try to think of something to do until we get the project back."

Gobber took him to a small booth in the mess hall.

"It's ugly, Hiccup," the Chief Engineer confessed. "The Emulator, along with both adapters, has been stolen."

"What?" Hiccup felt sweat roll down his back. "How?"

"Looks like someone broke into the lab through a security flaw in Odin's room." Gobber shook his head wonderingly. "I installed the IR sensors there myself. There isn't any sign of counter-electronics use on that floor, either. It's like half the alarms chose that moment to malfunction."

"Weird," Hiccup said hoarsely, trying and failing to appear casual as he sipped at his water.

"Anyway, let Hooligan Security worry about all that," said Gobber with a shrug. "Where were you all day? Someone said they saw you in a café."

Hiccup nearly knocked over his glass. "T-They did?"

Gobber eyed him curiously. "Yep. Wrinkled clothes, lipstick on your collar, stinking of perfume. Doesn't take a genius like you to work this one out."

Gobber was one of the few people who knew about Hiccup's friendship with Cami, and he'd long been of the persuasion that romance was inevitable. Hiccup watched with horror as the other interns, trays loaded with roast beef, took the booth right next to them.

"Did she make th' first move, or did you?" Gobber asked innocently, stroking his moustache with a black metal hand. Conversation in the next booth ceased.

"Gobber!" Hiccup hissed. "She didn't – I mean, there is nothing going on, and if there was, it would be none of your business!"

Gobber raised his hands defensively. "Just askin'. Can't blame an old gambler for wanting to know how his wager is going."

"What wager?"

"You two have been dancing around each other for so long." Gobber sighed dreamily, an amusing sight coming from a big-chinned, missing-tooth man like him.

"You made a wager on whether we'd get together?" asked Hiccup, appalled.

"What? 'Course not. I made a wager on who would make the first move."

"Gobber, you're seeing things that aren't there. Trust me, we're just good friends." At least he could say that with a straight face since it wasn't technically a lie.

"Uh-huh. And the café? Lipstick marks? Perfume?" Gobber smirked as Hiccup's eyes darted around, looking for a way out.

"Gobber, look, I'll tell you everything… one day. In the future. On my deathbed," whispered Hiccup. "But right now I should be focused on finding the Emul- um, the project, like everybody else."

Gobber sighed, probably realising he wasn't going to get any more information out of Hiccup. "I won't bother telling you not to look for it – because you never bloody listen to me anyway – but I will say this: _please_ stay out of the investigators' way. And if, by some miracle, you _do_ find something useful, give it to them before you go gallivanting off after it."

Hiccup stiffened indignantly. "I don't _gallivant,"_ he sniffed. "And I'm not going to get in anyone's way, either."

"That'll be a first," chuckled Gobber. "Oh come on, I'm only jokin'," he added when stood up with a huff.

"Are we still in lockdown?" he asked.

"No," replied Gobber, his eyes twinkling. "Got better company in mind than your ol' tutor, have you?"

Hiccup reddened and decided not to dignify the old sod with a response. He'd already given Gobber far too much ammunition this evening – even if most of it was based on lies.

Back in his room, Hiccup gathered up a few essentials including his laptop, toiletries, journal, pretty much anything he'd need in order to stay away for a few days. There was a _lot_ of work to do, and he couldn't keep coming back and forth from the facility every time he needed something. Losing his job had one clear upside: his free time just became unlimited until further notice.

Returning through the mess hall while carrying an overnight bag drew a few lewd comments from Ruff and Tuff, but nobody else batted an eye. By now, those who cared would already know that Hiccup Haddock had a blonde girlfriend in the city. None would be considering him a potential suspect – after all, he couldn't even keep a relationship secret, so how could he be hiding the Emulator?

As Hiccup boarded a late-night bus heading downtown, a smile appeared on his face.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Hello Toothless! I've got big plans for you.  
**

 **Hiccup might not be a 'Rider of Lightning and Metal' just yet, but we can see him start to shift into this new, adventurous role.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think!**


	5. Babysitter

**Chapter 5: Babysitter**

Hiccup arrived at the workshop to find Cami pacing a groove into the floor. She kept glancing at the Emulator, which remained on the worktable where Hiccup had left it a couple hours before.

"You alright?" he asked, dumping his bag on another table.

"Hiccup!" she spun to face him, undisguised relief evident on her face. "I'm supposed to be back at the Bog islands right now, getting a good night's sleep in preparation for the assignment my mother gave me, which I leave for tomorrow morning," she gushed. "But instead, I'm standing here babysitting a thinking, conscious, beautiful piece of fucking garbage that likes to set itself on fire!"

Hiccup raised his hands as though trying to ward off a wild stallion. "Relax. I'll be spending the next few days here. You can head home now, if you have to."

"If I have to, he says," Cami giggled a little hysterically as she snatched up her jacket and stalked towards the exit. "If I fail this job because of you, you'll wish we'd both been executed for what went down today."

"We still might be," Hiccup called after her. "There's still hope." He received a one-finger reply, and the thief was gone.

"I should probably buy her flowers or something," he muttered, turning towards the Emulator. The adapters were still murky blue, but there was no telling how long they would stay that way.

Hiccup pulled out his laptop, connected it to the holographic display above the workbench, and began planning. Baby Fury 2.0 would have joints that moved smoother, casing that was fireproof, a tail with a greater range of movement to help balance, and, of course, wings.

Wings were not simple. Robot wings were even less so. Without enough thrust behind them, even carbon fibre wings wouldn't be able to give the little guy lift – they were simply too heavy to flap. Fortunately, this version of the Night Fury was small enough that its weight was easier to deal with. Hiccup knew he would run into the same problem again when he eventually built the full-sized Night Fury, but there was no point worrying about it prematurely.

For now, the solution was to make the wings out of a flexible kite material. The musculature that would normally control the movement of the wings was simulated through ultralight aluminium servos encased in protective plastic. Hiccup hoped the end result would be a wing system that was capable of actually lifting the twenty kilogram mostly-metal dragon.

Hiccup's eyes were dry and sore from focusing when he was done, and he groaned at the morning light filtering through the high windows of the warehouse.

"Am I ever going to have a normal sleep pattern again?" he asked the Emulator. The adapters glowed slightly in response.

"Oh, crap," Hiccup yelped, hurriedly attaching the adapters and inserting the Emulator into its new home. Just as the final screw was in place, the glow, visible from the small cracks around the cameras in its 'skull', turned bright yellow once more.

Hiccup threw himself aside in advance this time, and was rewarded for his caution as the Night Fury went into another confused rampage around the warehouse. As it skittered away, smacking into machines and cabinets every other step, Hiccup quietly crept into the office and locked the door.

There was no way out for the little wrecker, and he desperately needed some sleep.

* * *

The warehouse was silent when Hiccup woke up. That was enough to ruin any of the good feelings that came with getting rest after a hard couple of days. It was also evening now, according to his phone, so he'd wasted almost the entire day. His stomach rumbled as he stumbled out of the office and stared blearily into the maze of machines.

"Hello?" he called, before slapping his head. The dragon had no microphone. No wonder the poor guy was freaking out, he probably thought he was deaf.

 _And let's face it, those twin cameras he's using for eyes probably aren't as good as real Night Fury eyes. And he can't roar or growl still, so there's that too. Really, I should be surprised he calmed down as quickly as he did yesterday._

Hiccup's brain was designed to focus, but it was also easily distracted. With thoughts on improvement running through his head, he set up his laptop and connected to the holographic projector once more.

"The small body is easy to improve," he said aloud in an attempt to organise his thoughts, "But the zoologists think Night Furies reach maturity extremely fast compared to humans, so I should probably begin gathering parts for the full-grown version."

The body would need to be made of a strong, light metal. It didn't take long to decide on carbon nanotubes: they absorbed radar, were almost invisible at night, and the specs made him geek out for a full minute. That was all he needed.

For vision: A half-hour of searching found that there was a company called Ocular Innovation that had been contracted by Meathead Technologies two years ago to create an adaptive camera allegedly for 'security' purposes, but more likely to assist in their endless war of espionage against the Hooligan Foundation. A scan of the features made him whistle appreciatively – it used a combination of traditional night-vision and infrared to produce one of the clearest and most effective dark lenses ever created for private use.

"I _have_ to get some of those," he muttered to himself.

As for the Night Fury's hearing, Hiccup decided to set a baseline as to what kind of microphone he should be searching for. As it happened, a couple of journal articles in the Foundation's academic library suggested that Night Furies had hearing comparable to some canines. They somehow ascertained this by measuring the ear cavities on the skull, which was a field Hiccup didn't know much about. However, it did give him something to work with.

"I need auditory sensors that can hear up to 45 kilohertz, and as low as 65 hertz." Hiccup nodded happily. They would likely be the easiest component to find, so he didn't bother searching for them just yet.

Hiccup was a good researcher, but when it came time to find a way to let the Night Fury _smell_ things, he drew blank after blank. Most 'electric noses' were meant for specialised purposes, such as smelling alcohol, or a gas leak, or dangerous chemicals. He was beginning to think he was going to have to design one himself when he stumbled across a patent filed by the Norwegian government in relation to something called AMORR.

AMORR, it turned out, stood for Adaptive Machine Olfaction, Retention, and Recognition. It was a proprietary system that the Foundation had been quietly contracted to build five years ago. Hiccup winced. The system wasn't available commercially, and the only working models were kept on one of Berk's outlying artificial islands in a secure facility, _and_ they were due to ship out to Norway in a month and a half.

"I'll deal with that later," he muttered, moving on.

The fun part was over.

"Propulsion," Hiccup said loudly, hoping the volume would spark an idea in the back of his mind. Nothing came to him.

How was he supposed to make a metal dragon fly? Kite wings were out of the question – they'd never withstand the stress of powered flight – which meant only one thing.

The Night Fury was going to need a thruster of some kind.

Hiccup's stomach growled and squirmed so loudly that it felt like a punch in the gut. "Oh, right," he mumbled. "I need food to live."

He powered down the laptop and holographic projector and turned away from the workbench, only to find two little cameras glinting at him from a few metres away.

Hiccup froze, completely unsure of what to do, and the little Night Fury paced a cautious semi-circle around him.

"You're walking a lot better today, aren't you?" said Hiccup with forced cheer. "Already used to the new body, huh? Have you tried flying yet?"

The Night Fury, deaf to the world, continued to pace warily. Hiccup swallowed and crouched down to eye-level, holding his breath as the dragon slowly approached.

"Hey there, little guy," Hiccup said soothingly, more for his own sake than the dragon's. "I'm not scary, am I?"

The Night Fury leaned towards Hiccup's hand and jerked its head in little movements, as though trying to sniff. The glow from the adapters flickered red for a moment, and the Night Fury pawed at its nose in frustration.

"I know, buddy, I know. I'm working on it."

After a minute or two, the Night Fury seemed to realise Hiccup wasn't going to hurt him, and began nudging him with his nose. Hiccup laughed as the cold metal creature behaved as curiously as any cat.

"What should I call you?" he said quietly.

The Night Fury's jaw closed around Hiccup's hand. Hiccup recoiled with an embarrassingly high-pitched scream, but the little monster hung from his hand, dangling wildly.

"Argh! Oh, God! Why did I make your jaw so strong?!" Hiccup flailed a little more and the Night Fury finally let go, clattering to the ground in a heap. "I'm _never_ giving you teeth, young man. _Damn!_ "

Hiccup nursed his bruised hand with a wince. "Oh, what, you're proud of yourself?" he said bitterly as the dragon strutted around his legs with a self-important air about him.

"Oh yeah? Well guess what, mighty dragon! Your name is Toothless, now and til the end of time."

The Night Fury, of course, could hear none of this, but he seemed to have placed Hiccup into a category that was neither a threat nor prey, which was certainly a step in the right direction.

* * *

Hiccup didn't hold the dragon's attention for long. Soon after the encounter, the Night Fury began scratching at its nose again before bolting deeper into the warehouse. Hiccup took the chance to pull on his coat and slip out the side door to find some breakfast – or dinner, whatever.

"Poor guy," he muttered under his breath walking through the deserted western streets. "Missing half of your senses must be hell."

Ice in the form of air came slicing in from the ocean, and Hiccup pulled his coat tighter around him. The streets were lonely at night – not even criminals could be bothered braving the cold, especially not in this district. Hiccup liked the feeling of being alone in large, empty spaces. He could never explain why, but they always calmed him down and helped him think during difficult times.

Maybe it was some long-buried evolutionary response to being in a place where all avenues of approach were easily visible. Or maybe it was because most of his life had been spent alone, and he'd learned to love it.

Either way, he felt no desire for company beyond the hard, grey silhouettes of buildings and the false moonlight of each streetlamp he passed beneath.

It was almost a shame when he passed into a livelier district, far from the western docks. Holograms danced in front of nightclubs, and good old fashioned neon lights blazed above half the buildings, many of which were the base of apartment complexes. Such was the need to save space on an artificial island.

There were plenty of diners open all night, so Hiccup chose the quietest one and slipped through the door. It was deliciously warm inside, so he took off his coat as he sank into a puffy red armchair with a relieved sigh.

"Long day?" asked a blonde waitress, wandering over with her PDA out, ready to take an order.

"Long night, actually," Hiccup replied with a yawn. "I slept through most of the day. I don't suppose you guys do all-day breakfast menus?"

"Hiccup?" gasped the waitress.

"Astrid?" he replied, equally surprised.

The Intern Team Leader was frozen a metre away from his table, staring with wide eyes at the last person she probably wanted to see.

"So, uh, waitressing, huh?" said Hiccup, fumbling for conversation. "That's cool. You know, I used to work in a fast food place."

"Of course it's cool," Astrid snapped. "Why wouldn't it be cool?"

"I never said that it wasn't–"

"I don't think you have any right to judge me, Haddock. Just because I want to use this time between projects to make myself useful and contribute to the economy of Berk, which, by the way, directly influences the wellbeing of the Foundation as a whole. Just because I refuse to laze around for the next few weeks until things are back to normal," Astrid spat quietly, her cheeks flaming red.

 _I think someone might be a little insecure about going from big important projects to waitressing._

Of course, he kept that thought to himself. Hiccup was not a fool.

"Uh, maybe I should just go," Hiccup said awkwardly, reaching for his coat.

"No," Astrid said suddenly, her voice deceptively calm. "You should feel comfortable eating anywhere you want. What did you want for breakfast?"

"I don't want breakfast anymore." He tried to rise from his seat.

"Tell me!" she growled.

Hiccup recoiled back into his chair, eyes wide. "Two poached eggs on two pieces of toast, with two hash browns on the side."

She tapped his order into her PDA and glared at him over the top of it. "That'll be twenty dollars. Your order will be ready in fifteen minutes."

Hiccup presented a couple of crumpled notes from his pocket, and Astrid snatched them and stalked away. He groaned and rested his head on the table, but it came out more like a whimper.

 _I shouldn't have said a damn word._

Hiccup had nothing against waitresses, but now Astrid was going to think he pitied her. It was as though fate was conspiring to make sure Astrid was never anything less than pissed off with him. It was especially frustrating that he really had nothing against the damn woman.

Breakfast arrived fifteen minutes later on the dot, delivered by Astrid. Hiccup had such a tight rein on his tongue that he was barely able to choke out 'thank you' without wondering if he was going to regret it.

"You're welcome," Astrid replied, marching over to another table.

Hiccup was a biological creature, and some of his actions were reflexive and instinctual. Unfortunately, he doubted such thoughts were going through Astrid's mind when she glanced over her shoulder and caught him watching her walk away. He wasn't looking at her face.

She barely hid her scowl when she turned to the next customer. Hiccup decided to focus entirely on his breakfast and get out of there as fast as he could.

 _Great, I just learned how to piss her off without saying a word. As a bonus, she probably thinks I'm unfaithful or something._

At least the eggs were good.

* * *

Hiccup got back to the warehouse around midnight. He took a long route just in case Astrid's shift finished and she decided to follow him back to his imaginary girlfriend to report on his ocular infidelity.

Paranoia came in many flavours.

Toothless wandered up to him as he returned to his workstation. The dragon seemed used to his presence now, and the improved mobility granted by its new body meant it was less distracted by memories of its perfect, virtual form.

Hiccup brought up the work-in-progress holographic blueprints for the adult Night Fury body. Toothless seemed very interested, leaping onto the table and waving a leg through the projected light.

"You like it?" Hiccup smiled. "That's gonna be you in a month or two. Once I get all the parts together, anyway." His smiled faded. _That_ was going to be a serious undertaking, considering half the parts weren't available commercially (not that he had much money to throw at this project anyway – Stoick had always been of the opinion that if Hiccup wanted to be rich, he should make himself rich).

But looking at the deaf little Night Fury made it hard to come up with excuses not to try. "To hell with it, I can at least afford to buy you some ears."

Toothless, having grown tired of the hologram, leapt off the table and spread his wings, gliding for a few metres before trotting further into the warehouse. Hiccup quietly patted himself on the back for his work on the wings, then started searching for tech stores on Berk that would stock what he needed.

At three in the morning, Hiccup left the warehouse and once more ventured into the freezing night. His thermal undergarments were a suitable shield against the weather, and the wind had died down enough to make it a little less bracing.

Only when he was standing in front of the tech store that stocked the auditory sensors he needed did he realise it wasn't open all night like the diners and nightclubs.

 _Crap. Well, I guess I should wait until morning._

It was at that moment his eyes just happened to notice that the gate leading to the yard behind the tech store was open slightly, as though the manager forgot to lock it. Hiccup glanced up and down the street, but it was dead quiet this early in the morning. Even the nightclubs would be dying down, and they were a few blocks away.

Hiccup's feet took him over to the gate somehow. His gloved hands pushed it inwards, and the rest of his body slipped into the yard of its own volition.

 _I'm just checking to make sure nobody has broken in because of the unlocked gate._

Hiccup rounded the back of the building and discovered the heater had been disconnected from the wall, leaving a knee-high square hole where it would ordinary pump hot air into the building.

 _Oh, come on. Now I have to go inside and make sure nobody's taken anything._

His heart raced for some reason as he ducked under the hole and entered the store. Hiccup found himself in a stock room, with shelves lined with cardboard boxes marked with category codes. Out of the blue, he remembered the cat code for the auditory sensors was SE5327, and a box with that code was sitting on the middle shelf beside some old display boxes.

Hiccup abandoned all pretence, picked up the box, and ducked under the hole into the night once more. He hesitated in the yard as a small sign caught his attention.

 **This Property Protected by Security Cameras.**

"Shit," he whispered into the freezing air, a cloud of steam accompanying the word.

And he pulled out his PDA.

Like many of his actions so far, he didn't stop to justify it. He was suddenly detecting the local network being used for the security system. It had small-business level security, but Hiccup had experience with both computer systems and cryptography, unlike most amateur criminals, and had no trouble getting past the password.

Deleting an entire recording was just about the most suspicious thing he could do, so he opted for a time-tested method. Overwriting the portion of the tape that had caught his action with a portion where nothing had occurred would make it seem as though nothing had happened at all. Ordinarily, it wasn't possible to extract security footage, edit it, and then reinsert it into the monitoring program – but then, that was kinda the point of hacking.

A thrill of satisfaction accompanied the successful implantation of the edited footage. Hiccup tucked the box under his arm and returned out the gate, locking it behind him.

 _Wouldn't want anything to get stolen, after all._

He grinned the entire way back to the warehouse.

* * *

Maybe it was the aftereffects of the adrenaline, but Hiccup couldn't fall asleep. The plan had been to try and reset his body clock by sleeping for a few hours and then remaining awake all day, but now it looked as though his sleep pattern was going completely nocturnal.

Instead of resting, he channelled his restless energy into installing Toothless's new ears. This time, the Night Fury remained active as he worked, though it took a few minutes to coax him into cooperating. Not for the first time, Hiccup wished robots had the ability to eat. According to dog-training manuals, edible rewards were extremely useful.

In the virtual world, Toothless had killed and eaten prey of various types, just like an organic Night Fury. But now that he was in a robot body, there was nothing sending the 'hungry' signal to the Emulator, so he no longer needed to eat. The same went for water and most bodily functions – his metal form simply didn't have the capacity to allow such things, so the impulse was absent from Toothless's mind.

 _Thank God,_ Hiccup thought, images of a Night Fury urinating oil flashing through his head.

As soon as the auditory sensors were connected to the adapters, Toothless froze, his metal ear flaps twitching.

"What do you think of that?" said Hiccup.

Toothless flinched away from his voice, then stared up at him, his cameras dilating in wonder. Hiccup could hardly believe it. It seemed as though Toothless had connected his newfound hearing to Hiccup's actions – in other words, he knew Hiccup was helping him.

 _Definitely not far off human intelligence,_ Hiccup thought, impressed.

"You like it?" laughed Hiccup. Toothless glided off the workbench and was startled at the noise his paws made on the floor. After glancing back at Hiccup, the Night Fury tore off into the warehouse to explore all the sounds he'd been missing.

Dawn was close, so Hiccup decided it was time for bed.

He dreamed of dragons and thieves, and waitresses with tight little bottoms.

Hiccup awoke at midday, which was an improvement, all things considered. Toothless was dormant on top of the workbench, seemingly having fallen asleep playing with the hologram of his future self.

For breakfast, Hiccup decided to return to the same diner he'd met Astrid at. He already knew the food was good, and besides, he was in such a good mood that he wouldn't mind setting things straight with Astrid.

 _I stole something last night – not via proxy, but_ actually _stole something that wasn't mine._

The thought seemed like it should register with panic bells in his brain, but nothing happened. Toothless obviously needed to hear, and would likely get much more use out of the sensors than whatever audiophiles they'd been designed for. No matter how much he scolded himself, he just couldn't feel bad about it.

It was… actually kinda exciting.

Astrid was the first person he saw as he entered. She glared predictively at him, but he held his hands up to stave off any incoming insults.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry about last night," he said, taking the same table as had before. "I was pretty tired, and I didn't mean to annoy you or anything."

The open hostility faded from her eyes somewhat. "Forget it. Is this another breakfast?"

"Yes, please." Hiccup ventured a smile which Astrid ignored.

When she brought his order (again, exactly fifteen minutes later), she hesitated for a moment, avoiding his eyes and gripping her PDA until her knuckles went white.

"I'm… sorry. About yesterday," she said stiffly. "It's just that I had a plan for how my internship was going to go, and at no point did it include working at a diner again."

"Yeah," Hiccup replied, a mite guiltily. "We all kinda had the carpet pulled out from underneath us."

"Have you heard anything? From your Dad, I mean," Astrid asked hopefully.

Hiccup snorted. "He'll probably tell you before me."

"Oh." An awkward pause. "Have _you_ found anything?" she whispered.

His surprise must have been evident on his face, because she reddened slightly. "Well," she said defensively, "Any port in a storm, you know."

"Thanks," he replied dryly. "And no, I haven't."

Astrid nodded and left to serve another customer.

 _Cami's going to be so proud. First she turns me into a thief, and now I'm a convincing liar. I might as well apply to join the Bog Burglars while I'm at it._

* * *

For the next four weeks, Hiccup's schedule didn't vary. His body clock never quite corrected itself, and he ended up resigning himself to being a nocturnal creature from now on. Toothless, with no reliable way to tell what time it was, continued to sleep and wake whenever he felt like it. Hiccup still didn't know exactly what was causing the impulse to sleep, but it was certainly useful.

The main workbench became cluttered with various notebooks and scrap paper as Hiccup went about planning Toothless's adult body. In his downtime, he chased the Night Fury around the warehouse and tried to teach him to obey commands, which Toothless apparently found hilarious.

Hiccup's late-night ventures to Astrid's diner were a regular thing, and they'd stopped stepping on each other's toes as much when they spoke. Twice, Astrid actually spent her break at his table, and they talked about such fascinating topics as Foundation shareholders, and how much the twins annoyed them.

It was decidedly nice being on good terms with the fierce young woman, but he knew Cami's return would mark an end to the rest period.

On the seventeenth of June, Hiccup woke when Cami burst into the office and slammed the door behind her. She had a slight tan and was wearing a thick coat with black fur around the neck and sleeves.

"Hiccup! It's on the loose!" she hissed.

Hiccup rolled out of the fold-out bed and staggered over to the door. "Nice to see you too," he yawned. "How did your assignment go?"

"Perfectly," she admitted. "But right now I'm more concerned about the metal dragon that chased me in here than giving you a play-by-play!"

"Toothless just likes to play. He's still pretty young, remember?" Hiccup opened the door and a cannonball made of dragon slammed into his chest. "Hey, bud!" he wheezed.

The Night Fury nudged him with its nose as greeting, then focused its cameras on Cami, who stepped away. "Easy, Toothless. She's a friend. She's the reason you're not in a really bad position right now."

Toothless eyed him disbelievingly, but rose out of his predatory stance.

"Hey, I thought he couldn't hear anything," said Cami, relaxing slightly.

Hiccup gave a crooked grin. "You're never going to believe what I did."

Half an hour later, they sat on the foldout bed together as Toothless snuggled into the relit barrel. The wisps of smoke were blown over to the roof access stairs by a desk fan, keeping the air breathable.

"You stole," repeated Cami.

Hiccup nodded, laughing at her expression.

"Hiccup Haddock stole from a tech store? And then hacked the cameras so he wouldn't leave any trace?" she said once more.

"I didn't even think about what I was doing," said Hiccup. "One second I was thinking 'darn, guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to buy Toothless some ears' and then I was suddenly creeping in through a hole behind the heater."

Cami giggled in an odd way, and she shifted closer to him on the edge of the bed. "How did it feel? Are you _wracked_ with guilt, now?"

"Actually, it felt kinda… thrilling," Hiccup admitted, a little embarrassed. Crimes weren't meant to be fun.

"Really?" Cami's breath tickled his chin, and Hiccup realised how close she had gotten. "Are you gonna do it again?"

Hiccup had no idea what to do. A nervous chuckle escaped his lips. "W-Well, I'll have to, won't I? I can't afford that many carbon nanotubes, or any of the other components I need."

"Hmm," she purred. "Guess you'll probably need help from a professional, then. Someone to turn you into a proper thief."

"Uh." Hiccup's voice cracked, and he looked everywhere but at the very pretty young woman beside him. "You know, thieving isn't really my long-term plan – this is all for Toothless."

Cami gave a smoky laugh and pulled away, getting to her feet. "Still so innocent. So why'd you call him Toothless?"

"It's a lesson of humility."

"Humility?" Cami raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. He has an ego. You should see the way he flounces about – and how dramatic he acts whenever I won't play with him."

"No wonder you get along so well with him," she giggled. "You're basically twins."

"I don't flounce!" Hiccup huffed. "And I'm not dramatic, either."

"Sure thing, Mister I'm-ready-to-do-the-right-thing-whatever-it-takes."

"Yeah, well…" Hiccup ran out of comebacks and flopped backwards onto the bed. "It's nearly sunset and I haven't had any sleep yet."

"If you stay awake for a couple more hours, you might actually fix your sleep schedule."

"How do you know about my sleep schedule?"

"You look just like you did back during final exams in high school." Cami skipped over to the door. "Mind if I start planning a few heists? You _do_ want those components, right?"

Hiccup waved his assent. "They're on my laptop. Password is…" he coughed suddenly.

"Password is what?"

"Camicazi. With 'C's instead of 'K's, and an 'I' on the end."

There was a moment of silence with nothing but the cracking of flames in Toothless's barrel to fill the void.

"I like it," said Cami. She left the room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Hiccup rose with the sun for the first time in weeks. Maybe it was because everything had been going pretty well lately, but he was in a slightly less cynical mood. He even whistled as he strode into the workshop.

"Morning, bud," he said with a sleepy smile as Toothless glided down from a high cabinet. He'd yet to see the Night Fury fly properly, but at least he could get _some_ airtime.

Cami had found a few large sheets of paper and written one of the components in the centre of each one. It was clear she preferred a more physical way of planning things out, possibly because it was easier to destroy evidence.

"The apprentice thief awakens," Cami grinned, glancing at him over her shoulder.

"You've been busy," said Hiccup, impressed at the amount of detail on each large sheet. "Have you been working all night?"

Cami shrugged, scribbling some notes in red pen. "I took a nap a little while ago. Honestly, I was hoping on the flight back to the Archipelago that you'd have another crazy scheme ready for me. The assignment was tame compared to the stuff you get me into."

"You're welcome," Hiccup said with a smirk, crouching beside her.

"I have a question." Cami bit her lip in thought.

"Shoot."

"In the list of components, you don't mention many robotic parts. I mean, all this extra stuff is cool, but if you don't have the actual body to attach it all to, then what's the point?"

Hiccup gestured vaguely to a couple of steel bins brimming with large actuators and magnetic bearing servos, along with a whole heap of robotic stuff he'd put together in his free time over the last month. "I've already made most of the internal stuff here. Once I have the carbon nanotubes, I'll be able to start building the body with help from the fabricator."

"Isn't there some super high-tech actuator that you'd rather use for this? Maybe one we can add to the steal-list?" Cami asked hopefully.

"Probably. But really, the ones I made aren't exactly half-assed. Besides, if I start holding every single bolt and screw to the same standards I'm holding the stuff on the list to, I'd never finish building it. Night Furies grow quickly, and Toothless will need his adult body sooner rather than later."

Cami sighed mournfully. "Alright, alright."

"So what's first on the agenda?" asked Hiccup.

"Carbon nanotubes. According to my sources, the material isn't as hard to make as it used to be, but the governments of the world want to keep it for military use only." A feral grin appeared on Cami's face. "Naturally, we Bog Burglars have stolen tons of the stuff, so I know where to look. For this one, I'm gonna need a bigger dagger. And guess who's going to carry it."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I could use a proofreader if anyone is interested. I think I'm pretty good at spotting mistakes on my own, but a second pair of eyes is always a good idea.**

 **As always, please review and tell me what you think of the story so far.**


	6. Apprentice

**Chapter 6: Apprentice**

There was more than enough carbon fibre left over to make the new 'dagger', although as it began to take shape, Hiccup decided it was more like a sword.

It used roughly the same design as the dagger, but with a few improvements. The superconductive lattice wrapped around the carbon 'blade' was of a higher grade, considering it had to transfer kinetic energy over a longer distance. The power pack was about the same size despite weeding out a few inefficiencies – a longer blade needed more power, after all, so it balanced out. The power switch, however, was now located just above the rubber grip, meaning it could be operated with one hand. The wires leading to the power pack were now retractable, extending fluidly whenever he needed extra reach to a maximum of one and a half metres.

"Badass," Cami said approvingly as Hiccup slammed the sword through a thick steel rod held between two vices. "I'll trade you my dagger for it."

"You mean the dagger I gave you," said Hiccup as he deactivated the sword and slid it into the protective black sheath on his back. The handle was visible over his left shoulder, in easy reach. He _felt_ pretty badass wearing it.

"I didn't know you could make an even cooler version. I'll trade you my dagger and a peek up my shirt, how does that sound?"

Hiccup glanced at her chest for half a second. "Tempting, but this thing is just way too cool. I don't mind upgrading yours, though."

"Damn. That probably would have worked on you a year ago," Cami grumbled.

"I have a bit more perspective now," he grinned.

Cami narrowed her eyes. "You've caught someone else's attention?"

Hiccup jumped a little, surprised at the leap of logic. "No. Well, not really, anyway. We just chat most days."

"Who?"

"Astrid Hofferson, the Intern Team Leader back when there was an Intern Team."

"Didn't she annoy the crap out of you?"

"Yeah, but ever since I found out she's working in a diner, she's been a bit more humble."

Cami laughed. "Brought her down a few notches, did you?"

"Kinda. Anyway, I've been having breakfast there for the last month."

"You know, I'm feeling pretty hungry myself. Maybe we should pay a visit?" Cami suggested innocently.

Hiccup was already shaking his head. "I don't need you kicking the hornet's nest just after I convinced it to calm down."

Cami gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fiiiine." She perked up again instantly. "What size is your waist?"

"I don't know? Why?"

"I'm taking you into the field to grab this carbon stuff. You need to look the part."

"I thought the best thieves looked like average, unremarkable people. I have plenty of boring clothes already." Hiccup picked at his dark grey thermal shirt. The sleeves were rolled up now that the heating system had managed to fill the warehouse.

Cami tutted. "If we were doing some normal heist in the middle of the day, that would be true. But we're going to be breaking through the wall of a Visithug warehouse on the southern docks in the middle of the night. If we're noticed, we need to be able to lose them in the darkness, not fade into a crowd." She picked up a tape measure and began to go over him as he tried to decipher her complicated writing. Cami's hands began to linger wherever she measured, and twice he flinched when she brushed against sensitive areas. He was flushed and quite embarrassed by the time she finished, whereas she seemed quite satisfied at having him on the back foot once again.

"I'll bring your stuff tomorrow so you can try it on. Do you think you can buy a couple of earpieces we can use during the operation?" said Cami, letting the tape retract with a snap.

"Uh, yeah. I already have one though."

"No. They have to be brand new. Burn the packaging afterwards, and make sure you pay in cash." Cami checked her phone. "I'd better go. Training starts tomorrow."

Hiccup rose to escort her out. "What are you training for?"

"No, _your_ training," she gave him a wink. "The heist will take place in exactly one month. During that time, I'm gonna increase your endurance."

"Through running?"

"Mostly."

Hiccup stammered out a goodbye and she left with a laugh.

 _One day, I'm going to make_ her _stutter like an idiot,_ he promised himself.

* * *

"Does it have to be so tight?" Hiccup whined, plucking at the form-fitting, midnight blue shirt and pants. Dark, cushioned sneakers sat on each of his feet, designed to muffle footsteps and reduce scraping.

"Yes," said Cami, who watched him struggle with no shortage of amusement. Hiccup quite liked the way her own clothes clung to her skin, but he could hardly say that while complaining about his own. "The tightness reduces the rustling when we move."

"Where did you even get this stuff? Do the Bog islands just have thievery gear surplus stores?"

"That's actually pretty close to the truth." Cami pulled on some tight gloves and strode over to him. "I've got a lot of free time thanks to my amazing performance on that assignment my mother sent me on, so I'll be staying here with you for a while."

Hiccup almost berated her for not asking if he minded before he remembered that the workshop was technically her property. After spending so much time here with Toothless, it was hard to shake the feeling of ownership he had.

"Great," he said instead. "I hope you like sharing that lumpy foldout bed with me."

"Love every second," she replied smokily.

Hiccup tried to match her sensuous gaze with a cocky one, but didn't have nearly as much self-confidence as Cami when it came to such things, so he was the first to look away.

Cami grinned victoriously. "I've put together a training regime for us. You, mainly. Running, climbing, gymnastics, and a little bit of hand-to-hand. You never know kind of obstacles you might encounter during an operation, so it's important that you have a body you can rely on."

Hiccup supposed that made sense, though his last few attempts to stick to a training regime had collapsed when he'd realised he couldn't keep experimenting with robotics at the same time.

Toothless joined them, gliding onto a nearby desk and knocking a few things off without a care. He seemed curious about Hiccup's new clothing, but not enough to bother trying to sniff them.

The sight of his Night Fury reminded him exactly why he was doing all this. He got the feeling there wouldn't be any trouble with motivation this time.

"What's first on the agenda?" asked Hiccup.

As it turned out, four weeks of pain was first on the agenda.

After the first week, Hiccup was so sore he couldn't imagine how Cami could make him do it again. She didn't. Cami, unfortunately, knew a lot about how to gain muscle and increase endurance without breaking his body. Every day she took him to his limit, stretching and working muscles that had probably never been used before. He learned to roll, dodge, and use his momentum to scale a flat wall. The soreness became a constant companion; he actually groaned audibly every time he sat down.

On the plus side, she didn't insult him as they worked. It was weird hearing Cami encourage him to push a little harder or find that last bit of strength in his muscles. She must have noticed how much he relied on her to keep him going when his body was trying to fall out from underneath him, because much of her teasing vanished.

There were even a couple of times where she massaged the pain away as he lay on the foldout bed. Hiccup had been so mesmerised by the relief that he hadn't even blushed.

Cami still allowed him to visit Astrid for breakfast most days, but she forced him to jog the whole way there, which usually meant he was panting too much to exchange any banter. He was tempted to call her out as jealous, but never dared take the plunge.

Hiccup was not a fool.

As they entered the fourth and final week of his training before the operation, Hiccup had to admit he rather liked the results. Of course, he hadn't built up any muscle in only a month's time, but his body felt harder and tauter, like a bowstring ready for action. Every day he ran a little further and recovered a little faster. He was already fast thanks to his wiry build, but Cami gave that speed discipline. The first time he'd overpowered her while sparring, he'd stood there gaping until Cami leapt up and cheered.

For the first time in his life, Hiccup felt physically competent instead of just intellectually.

* * *

"Let's hit it," said Cami, her voice steely calm.

They crouched in the mouth of an alley a block away from the Visithug Electronics Warehouse. The southern docks were never empty, but three in the morning was the quietest time of day.

Cami had a strap running diagonally across her chest, full of little pouches containing her 'tools of the trade'. She had her dagger in a sheath at her waist, and the power pack was in a reverse fanny pack so it wouldn't get in her way.

All Hiccup had was the sword on his back and the accompanying power pack worn in a similar manner to Cami's. She'd told him that physical training was one thing, but learning to use her tools took a lot more work.

They'd planned this night meticulously, but that didn't stop Hiccup's heart from pounding as he dashed across the street and into an adjacent alley. Cami led the way through some backstreets until they reached the outer fence surrounding the warehouse compound.

Visithug Electronics was no Hooligan Foundation. They didn't have patrolling guards – only a few at the entrance – and the camera system didn't cover the blank expanse of wall that made up the perimeter fence. It was cheaper just to point the cameras at the doors of the warehouse, since most thieves wouldn't be able to bust through the walls.

Most thieves didn't have kinetic-heat conversion blades, however.

Cami took the outer fence, cutting a small, rectangular hole in the bottom of the wall and wriggling through. A large hole would be easy to spot if someone did a quick check along the perimeter, so this was less conspicuous.

Hiccup followed her under the fence and booked it over to the warehouse wall. The same principle applied here, and they were soon crawling into the warehouse on their bellies.

The interior was nothing like Cami's workshop. Half of the warehouse had been converted into office space, and instead of finding themselves in a cavernous row of crates, they were crouching on pale blue carpet beneath white fluorescent lights. A water cooler was visible a little further down the hallway, and for some reason Hiccup found it a ludicrous sight. This was _not_ what they had planned for.

Not only were they in a cubicle farm, but dozens of murmuring voices could be heard nearby from people working overnight shifts and managing late-arrival stock reception.

Hiccup exchanged a glance with Cami, though they couldn't see each other's expressions through the balaclavas masking their identities.

"Stay calm," her voice murmured in his ear through the brand-new earpiece he'd bought three weeks ago.

"What do we do?" he replied equally softly.

"We need to make it to the actual storage area and find the carbon nanotubes. The sooner we ditch these offices, the better."

They crept along white-walled hallways, passing motivational posters and big graphs indicating the productivity of different departments. Every time they heard a voice getting louder, they went in a different direction. Hiccup felt like a mouse in a maze filled with predators.

A man in a suit strode silently across a junction ten metres ahead of them. He didn't look to either side and thus missed spotting the two thieves caught in the open. Hiccup was so startled that Cami had to touch his arm to get him moving again.

After examining a fire escape plan on the wall, they finally knew where to go. It took less than two minutes before they emerged into the half of the warehouse that was actually used for housing wares.

A lone forklift rumbled down one of the tall aisles, and two men in high-visibility vests were chatting near what looked like a foreman's office – probably the guys who were in charge right now.

Cami led him the other way, silently jogging to the uninhabited part of the room. They ducked behind some crates to regroup.

"What kind of packaging would the carbon nanotubes be in?" asked Cami.

"Probably a narrow, rectangular metal crate, capable of holding several thick sheets of the stuff."

Unfortunately, every box they could see was cardboard, and most were just commercial electronics like TVs, laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, and an uncountable number of superfluous accessories for each of those things.

"This is useless," muttered Hiccup. "They wouldn't keep such high-value cargo out here with the common cargo. Most of this stuff is moved around within a matter of days as they transport products to their franchises. We need to look for a long-term high-security storage area."

"I think I see a likely place," Cami replied softly, gesturing at a portion of the shelving that was behind chain-link fences. There were several larger crates within, along with some specialised packaging. Sure enough, when they snuck closer, they could read the sign on the gate:

 **Restricted Cargo.**

"We're almost there," grinned Hiccup. He darted up to the fence and swung his sword.

"No, wait!" Cami hissed, but it was too late. As the lattice sheared through the fence, it triggered three separate sensors, and alarms immediately began shrieking. Far at the other end of the warehouse, the forklift driver was looking around, confused, and the two men in high-visibility vests were marching swiftly down the aisles, heading for the restricted section. One of them was speaking into a phone.

"Fuck!" Cami shoved Hiccup out of his shock and through the hole he'd created. "Which container is it?"

Hiccup moved from box to box, trying to read their labels in the poor lighting. "This one!"

The case was one metre tall and two metres long. The forty-centimetre width and rectangular shape made it look almost like a very wide TV. The case was made of a light metal – aluminium, probably – and was surprisingly easy to pick up. Hiccup took one end and Cami hefted the other, but they were too slow.

"Hey!" called one of the approaching men. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Hiccup, we're out of time," Cami said hastily, letting her side of the case drop to the ground. "Get to work. I'll deal with these two."

Hiccup slammed his sword into the concrete floor, ignoring the cries of pain and the sound of someone's jaw breaking behind him. This was the cleverest part of the plan. Or, if Hiccup was honest with himself, it was the _only_ clever part of the plan.

Since they had no way of knowing where in the warehouse the material would be stored, they first needed to infiltrate from outside. But once they had the cargo, it became a simpler matter to extract it. Obviously they couldn't carry it back the way they came without getting caught, but thanks to some scouting, they knew a second route was waiting below.

On the western docks, there was nothing but dirt beneath the buildings, but here on the southern docks, the area was far more built up – literally. The warehouse district was elevated almost as high as downtown, but it wasn't just metal beneath the roads and sewers – it was maintenance tunnels.

The case of carbon nanotubes fell through the hole Hiccup had cut in the floor of the warehouse. He spared a glance at Cami and saw her standing over the two men. She fiddled with a device from one of her pouches and pressed it against each of their necks before returning.

"Let's go. It will only be minutes before the police arrive," she said calmly.

They leapt into the hole after the case and landed with a thump inside a metal corridor. Lights flickered on as they detected motion. Red emergency lighting shone through the hole above, and there was a faint sound of someone yelling – possibly the forklift driver.

Hiccup carried one end of the case while Cami carried the other. They moved as swiftly as they could while carrying the cargo, and Hiccup began to wonder if he'd been a little extreme when he asked Cami to adjust her plan to account for his paranoia.

The tunnel lights kept turning on as they moved through the network, as Hiccup had known would happen. If he was a detective investigating the Case of the Missing Carbon Nanotubes, he would check the power usage history for the maintenance tunnels beneath the warehouse, then compare it with the time of the burglary and trace the activated lights to the thieves' destination.

That was why they were heading east towards the nearest exit. The sooner they were out of the tunnels, the sooner they would be untrackable.

Getting the case back to Cami's workshop had seemed impossible until Cami revealed another connection. She was apparently 'friends' with a man who wanted nothing more than to please her, and he allowed her to use his van whenever she desired.

They emerged from the tunnels at an access point behind a train station and loaded the case into the back of the van. The GPS navigation had already been disabled, but Hiccup's paranoia meant they _still_ weren't going back to the workshop. Instead, they were heading to another alley further into the city where some tools had been stashed behind a dumpster.

While Cami kept watch, Hiccup broke open the case and performed a thorough sweep of the contents: several segmented pure black sheets. There was a tracker hidden beneath a bit of foam packaging that would have exposed them if they had taken it back to the workshop.

The solution? They ditched the case and loaded only the sheets into the van. As they tore out onto a main road, Hiccup prayed that he'd thought of everything. Cami, it seemed, was hoping the same, as she took a very roundabout route through most of Berk before arriving back at the workshop.

It was six in the morning when they stripped off their tight, sweaty outfits and collapsed onto the foldout bed. Toothless was sleeping somewhere in the warehouse, and the comforting sounds of a city in the morning helped calm Hiccup's racing heart.

"Hey," said Cami, lying on her stomach beside him. Her toned form glinted with a thin sheen of sweat that Hiccup definitely wasn't looking at.

"Hey there," replied Hiccup, rolling onto his back and putting his hands behind his head. The pillow wasn't the best, but he'd come to like it.

"You did pretty well for your first time."

Hiccup snorted. "I slashed the alarms on the fence like an idiot."

Cami's shoulders bobbed in a little shrug. Hiccup liked the way her back muscles moved when she did that. "You kept your head together and we still completed the operation. Plus, you were right about the tracker inside the case – we'd be screwed if that thing had come back here."

A tinge of blush touched Hiccup's cheeks. He wasn't used to receiving praise from Cami, especially when it sounded so gentle.

"You're a proper thief now, but you're still so innocent. So honest," Cami said in an odd, wondering voice.

"I'm lying to everyone I know by doing this," Hiccup said dryly. "Honesty doesn't really come into it."

"Call it sincerity then. You believe in everything you do, you can't lie for shit – not to me, anyway – and you're so distracted by receiving praise that you haven't even realised you accidentally stripped off your underwear along with the stealth outfit."

Hiccup glanced down at his body, which was bare to the world. He blinked, then relaxed and let his head fall back without changing posture. "I guess that's that," he said blandly. "It's not like you couldn't have seen me like this any time you wanted, right? Isn't that what you always say?"

"Well, yeah, but I've never actually seduced you. I just liked making you blush," Cami stammered.

Hiccup eyed her curiously and noticed something else: he wasn't the only person who'd taken off more than the stealth suit. He forced his eyes to stick to Cami's face out of respect, only to find she was suffering from no such compulsions. Her eyes roamed his body with almost studious interest, and heat rose up his neck into his cheeks.

 _But why was she stammering?_

Cami had sounded almost _nervous_ a few moments ago. Her legs were pressed tightly together, but her rump was raised slightly. The pieces clicked into place. Hiccup didn't have any real experience with women, but neither was he completely oblivious.

A grin slowly formed on his face. "Something bothering you, Camicazi?"

She glared at him, but her cheeks were as red as his. "We're not in public. Pet names will get you a punch to the gut and very little else."

Hiccup rolled onto his side to face her directly, ignoring the urge to cover himself. Finally, after over a decade of teasing, _he_ was the one with the upper hand. He couldn't spoil it by getting bashful.

His boldness seemed to unnerve Cami even further, as her eyes widened and she swallowed. In turn, her lack of composure only made him bolder, and he reached out to brush his fingers along her neck. She flinched, then cocked her head fractionally to allow him better access. Her eyes closed as he traced her jawline from her ear to her chin, which he held ever-so-softly as he leaned in…

* * *

Hiccup woke around dusk, but for once he didn't feel guilty that his sleep pattern was messed up again. Cami slept beside him, still tangled up in the fire blanket they'd used in lieu of sheets.

Rising silently, he moved like ghost, floating out of the office and into the warehouse. He didn't even realise what he was doing when he started working on the carbon nanotubes, shaping the segments using the fabricator.

The warehouse was so silent and his thoughts so focused that it felt like he was inside a secret moment. It was as though the world had stopped turning outside the workshop, giving him infinite time to complete his project.

Holographic blueprints floated around him, but he barely needed to glance at them. The plans were etched into his mind, and every piece came together so smoothly he didn't dare break his flow to double-check.

Pitch-black sheets of carbon were wrapped around hydraulic joints and powerful actuators meant to provide the stability necessary for flight. Many modules remained empty since he didn't have all the parts yet, but the body as a whole was still recognisable as an adult Night Fury.

The wings were retractable and made of carbon this time, rather than kite material. He'd already established that Toothless would need some kind of thruster to ever achieve flight in this body, though he hadn't decided what kind to steal.

A smile crossed Hiccup's lips as he considered just how easily he thought of stealing these days.

 _I'm clearly hanging around the wrong kind of company._

Cami chose that moment to press against his side, a firm, warm reminder that he was quite fond of such company.

"He's almost finished," she said quietly, her voice a little sleepy. Hiccup liked how unguarded she sounded.

"We're still missing a bunch of parts, but at least the body is done." He ran a hand over the Night Fury's head, imagining it with the glow of the Emulator behind its eyes.

"I'm gonna split for a bit," Cami said with a yawn.

"What?" Hiccup was jolted out of the daze he'd been in since waking up. "Why? Did I do something weird before?"

Cami laughed and patted his butt. "No, Hiccup. I'm leaving because it's been about two days since my last shower, and I've done a lot of sweating since then. I'll freshen up at my apartment and come back here later."

"Oh, right. I should probably do the same. You know, at the facility, not at your apartment."

They returned to the office and got dressed. Toothless arrived at some point and watched them curiously. Hiccup was very glad the dragon hadn't been present a few hours ago.

It made him wonder what exactly the little guy had been up to – at least until he saw some shelves knocked over at the other end of the warehouse. It seemed Toothless had been racing around with very little care given to his environment. Hiccup swallowed as he imagined the adult Night Fury charging into things, blasting through buildings, and generally making it impossible to keep him secret from the world.

Hiccup filed the thought away in his mental to-do list, which was already overflowing with urgent tasks.

"I can't believe _you_ seduced _me_ ," Cami growled as they left the workshop. "This upsets our whole power dynamic. Who do you think you are, being confident like that?"

"Hey, I'm as surprised as you are," Hiccup said with a shrug. "I guess the adrenaline from the operation kinda lowered my inhibitions a bit."

"A bit," Cami repeated with a snort. "It's gonna take some serious teasing to knock that ego back down to manageable levels."

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Hiccup, but he was grinning widely the whole time.

As they were about to part ways, one for the bus stop and one for the residential district, Cami took Hiccup's hand.

"Hey, you're going back to the facility, right? Where the other interns are?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Hold still for a second." Cami pressed her mouth against his neck in a few places, leaving small blemishes behind. "There."

Hiccup rubbed his neck. "Is this some sort of display of ownership?" he asked suspiciously.

"That's just being silly."

"That's not a 'no'."

Cami flounced away without replying.

* * *

Hiccup strode into the mess hall for the second time since rescuing Toothless, and for once his presence was immediately noticed. The other interns were gathered around a single table in the otherwise empty cafeteria, despite it being almost four in the morning. It looked as though Astrid had been addressing everyone.

"Hiccup," said Astrid, her surprise evident.

"Hey, guys," Hiccup said awkwardly, stopping beside the table they were using. "What's up?"

"We're becoming vigilantes," said Tuff casually.

"Nice hickies," Ruff added with a cackle.

"Maybe Hiccup should be a part of this, Astrid," Fishlegs said slowly, fidgeting with his fingers. "He's on the Intern Team too."

"Part of what? Vigilantes? Huh?" Hiccup said eloquently.

Astrid hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. I suppose this affects you as much as us." She took a deep breath. "Hiccup, do you know my mother?"

Hiccup did indeed know Sif Hofferson, the terrifying Head of Security for the Hooligan Foundation. When he was younger, his father would take him everywhere he went because he didn't want a nanny in their home. As a result, Hiccup had been an observer for much of Stoick's official business – including anything involving his most fearsome protector. Just as Stoick governed all of Berk, so too did Sif command all of Berk's security and policing forces.

"I know _of_ her," he said diplomatically.

"Can you keep a secret?" Astrid asked seriously.

Hiccup paused. "Yes. Yes I can."

"My mother has given me access to the files relating to the ongoing investigation. I don't have any control over anything, but I can see the progress they've made and the leads they're following up on."

Sweat began to roll down Hiccup's back. "Wow. That seems like… a really big security breach."

"She gave me clearance, obviously," Astrid said with a wave of her hand.

"And did she give it to the rest of us, too?" Hiccup asked, already knowing the answer.

"No. But I remembered what Professor Gareth said to you the day the Emulator was stolen. You've been investigating this on your own, haven't you?"

Hiccup shrugged in an attempt to appear casual, but his mind was working on all cylinders to keep ahead of the conversation. "Sorta. That's part of why I barely spend any time at the facility anymore."

"Right. And I also remembered something you said during our first days on the project: we have a lot of brainpower in this team, and we should use it. As I was just saying, if we can band together on this and launch a covert investigation of our own – with my file access to guide us – we have a chance to uncover something important that could help the case."

"I'm surprised you listened to anything I said back then," said Hiccup, surprised.

"A good leader always listens to the insight of her team members." A tight smile softened her professional response, and Hiccup nodded gratefully.

The other interns glanced between them. "Did we miss something?" asked Ruff.

"Yeah, you two are usually so snarky to each other. What gives?" said Tuff.

"Oh!" squeaked Fishlegs. "Maybe Astrid is Hiccup's secret girlfriend!"

Hiccup and Astrid blanched as the twins and Snotlout laughed.

"Think about it," said Fishlegs. "The only people who have actually seen her are Astrid and Doctor Bronsen, and Sven could've easily mistaken Astrid for someone else at a distance."

"First of all," Astrid began angrily, "We're not being snarky because we both recognise the seriousness of the idea I'm proposing. I'd suggest the rest of you hurry up and recognise it too. Secondly, Doctor Bronsen knows what I look like, even from a distance. This is flawed, stupid reasoning, and we're getting side-tracked. Are you in or out?"

"I'm in," Hiccup said immediately, followed by the rest of the team a second later. If being part of this secret investigation meant he might have access to the investigation files – second hand or not – then he couldn't pass it up. If they were on to Cami…

"Good. Then I propose we begin meeting here at midnight each night to discuss the case," Astrid said authoritatively. Hiccup raised a hand, which actually drew a smirk from the blonde leader. "Yes, Hiccup?"

"Er, if the idea is to keep this secret from everybody, we might want to meet in one of our rooms instead. We should also remove the batteries from all mobile phones and PDAs, and unplug any nearby microphones and webcams. Those things are easily hackable."

Astrid blinked. "Huh. I hadn't thought of that. I guess we'll meet in my room at midnight every night, and leave our devices behind. Good thinking, Hiccup."

"So why are you guys all up at four in the morning?" Hiccup changed the subject, caught off-guard by the praise as usual.

"Same reason you are," said Tuff. "Our sleep patterns are all messed up after a month of having nothing to do except screw around and sleep whenever we get tired."

"Only difference is we aren't getting laid," Ruff added mournfully.

Astrid, who hadn't been listening to the exchange, suddenly unfolded her arms, and waved everyone to their feet. "Come on. I'm not waiting for tomorrow night. Let's have the first meeting now. Leave your phones and PDAs in your rooms and come to mine." She had a determined, almost excited air about her that worried Hiccup. Having Sif on the case was scary enough, but Astrid's focused nature could make things more difficult than they needed to be.

Hiccup schooled his heart to a steady speed. No matter how focused Astrid was, he was on the inside of the investigation now, and would be able to head off any advances they made.

They all made short stops at their rooms before congregating inside Astrid's. It was the same size as the others, but it used space far more efficiently, giving them ample room to stand around. Unlike Hiccup's room, which was littered with robot parts and boxes of tools, Astrid's floor was spotless and her bed well-made. Hiccup noted with suppressed jealousy that she had one more pillow than him, but that was likely because he'd spent the last month on a foldout bed.

"Hiccup?" said Astrid when they were all present. "Do you want to sweep the room for anything that could be used to eavesdrop on us?"

Hiccup did just that, making sure nobody had any devices on them, checking inside the vents of the air-conditioner (Cami had told him about that one) and the undersides of the drawers in her wardrobe. Finally he reached her laptop, which was sitting in the exact centre of her desk beside her bed. He unplugged the power cord, flipped the laptop over, and removed the battery. Since laptops had built-in microphones and webcams, it was simpler to just remove the power source.

"Jeez, who taught you how to check for bugs?" asked Snotlout, sounding impressed despite himself.

"Nobody." Hiccup gave a crooked grin. "Just my natural paranoia combined with computer science."

Astrid took a position in front of her desk, clasping her hands behind her back. "Good. Now, Hiccup, since you've been investigating longer than the rest of us, why don't you tell us what you've discovered so far?"

Hiccup looked into his brain for a convincing lie and drew a blank. "I think it would be helpful to go over what you know of the official investigation first, just to provide context to anything I might add," he said instead.

"Alright, fair enough," Astrid conceded with a nod. "So far, my mother believes the perpetrator to be a Bog Burglar."

Hiccup's heart jolted for the umpteenth time in too few days, but he was spared from having to invent a clumsy misdirection by Ruff's laughter.

"That's a pretty obvious assumption," said Ruff. "I mean, their whole thing is that they steal their advancements from other companies."

"What evidence are they basing that assumption on?" Tuff backed his twin up.

"The technology used to disable sensors and security cameras is consistent with known Bog Burglar techniques," Astrid explained. "Although some of the tools used were completely new."

"If the thief was a Bog Burglar, then she probably had their best tech on hand. It was a high-risk, high-reward mission, after all," said Hiccup.

"How do you know the thief is female?" asked Astrid curiously.

"It's statistically more likely, considering the majority of Bog Burglar field agents are female." More sweat ran down his back.

 _Stop saying things,_ he told himself furiously.

"Hang on, now," said Snotlout. "I'm hearing a lot of 'if's and 'likely's, but not a lot of hard evidence."

"Yeah, I have to agree with Stein. What do we _know_ about the thief?" said Fishlegs.

Astrid began jotting things in a notebook. "They were able to enter and leave the facility with ease. We know the Emulator wasn't hidden somewhere inside the building for later collection because it emits a very recognisable energy signature. The thief was trained in the use of several Bog Burglar devices. The thief possessed a device that was capable of cutting through a metal grate with ease. The thief may have also used a device that turned off half of the infrared sensors in Odin's chamber – though it remains unclear if that was a malfunction or part of the heist. The thief has no difficulty hiding in crowds and avoiding facial recognition scanners."

"So, basically, we know nothing useful at all?" Snotlout said with a snort.

"Every fact is a tool we can use to narrow down our suspects," Astrid said firmly. "In this group are some of the Archipelago's best and brightest. _Think!_ What's an angle we can investigate further?"

Worried thoughts flickered through Hiccup's mind. "Exactly how recognisable is the energy signature emitted by the Emulator? Is it traceable?"

"Yes, but the trail dissipates within a matter of hours," Astrid said disappointedly. "The official team already thought of that, but by then it was too late."

Hiccup exhaled quietly, trying not to let relief show on his face.

"Wardriving!" Fishlegs said excitedly, and Hiccup's relief vanished. He was hoping nobody else would follow that line of thought, but Fishlegs was trained in similar fields to him, so perhaps it was unavoidable.

"What-driving?" asked Tuff.

"If we get a hold of a device that can detect the energy signature left by the Emulator, we can drive all over Berk until we pick up a trace! It's kinda like wardriving, which is where you drive around a city connecting to unsecured wifi networks for whatever reason."

"Drive _all over_ Berk?" repeated Snotlout. "That would take days!"

Hiccup jumped on the negativity bandwagon. "And it would only work if the Emulator is still on Berk. If it was a Bog Burglar who stole it, they probably would've taken it back to their islands."

"Still," Astrid said, as he knew she would, "It's the only course of action we have at the moment. Finn, Hiccup, since you're the most qualified in this area, I want both of you to work together on a way to detect the Emulator. If you need materials to work with, we can pool our resources and buy whatever you need."

"Man, this is gonna be so cool!" said Tuff, sharing a grin with his sister. "We're going to be like undercover agents!"

"Oh man, imagine my dad's face if we find the Emulator before him!" Snotlout said hungrily, his eyes already wide as he imagined the moment.

"I'm just glad to have something to do. I've never researched investigative techniques before," said Fishlegs with a shrug.

Hiccup forced a hopeful smile. "Yeah, it might be fun," he said.

While the others discussed what kind of cool situations they could find themselves in by getting involved in the investigation, Hiccup just stood there and felt the weight of yet another problem settle on his shoulders.

Not only did he still have several more components to steal for Toothless's adult body, but he had to investigate Cami's heist without actually contributing anything that could lead the other interns to her. Astrid's access to her mother's files told him that Sif Hofferson was on the right track already, and that was not a comforting thought.

The meeting ended at five in the morning and Hiccup was finally able to have the shower he desperately needed. As he grabbed his towel from his room, he sent a quick text to Cami.

 _I'm going to be late. Look after T. We have a lot to catch up on._

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Hiccup can be quite the charmer when his confidence is up. Shame that only seems to happen when he's doing something crazy.**

 **And no, I haven't abandoned the original narrative completely. The description says 'roughly' for a reason, and we're not even at the halfway mark yet. The big elements from the movie will come into play, if not always in the form you'd expect.**

 **If you have any theories yet, I'd love to hear them!**

 **Proofread by Odael!**


	7. Double Agent

**Chapter 7: Double Agent**

"We've only got two weeks before your dragon's nose gets shipped off to Norway, and you've gone and gotten involved in an investigation against me?" Cami said lividly.

Hiccup winced, wishing he'd avoided telling her what had happened for at least a couple of hours. When he'd arrived back at the workshop, Cami had been giving him a smile that said the foldout bed was going to need some new springs soon. Now, Hiccup doubted he'd ever hear that squeaking again.

"It's called an Adaptable Machine Olfaction, Recognition, and Retention device," Hiccup said, arguing semantics in order to buy a little time to think up a well-worded explanation.

"Whatever!" Cami threw her hands up. "It's leaving for Norway in two weeks, and we need to keep training. We don't have time for you to go running around with the other interns pretending you're a private detective."

Hiccup decided not to mention how much he loved detective stories. "But can't you see how valuable this opportunity is? Astrid's going to be providing intelligence directly from the official investigation – from _Sif herself._ " He could see Cami wasn't going for it, so he added something extra to sweeten the prospect. "Plus, if I can get a bug into Astrid's laptop, I might be able to use it as a backdoor into all of the Foundation's systems, giving us inside knowledge about… well, everything."

Cami pursed her lips, but she didn't immediately object. "And your training?"

"As long as I'm back at the facility at midnight each night to meet with the others, I still have the rest of the day to myself – at least until they start the hunt for the Emulator, but I'm sure I can drag the process out for a couple of weeks. These guys don't know the Emulator like I do. Fishlegs might be a smart guy, but he's all theory and no practice. They _need_ me to help them track the energy signature."

"And what happens when they start patrolling the streets? What happens when they drive past here?"

Hiccup shrugged simply. "Sabotage. I could always give a false reading on the other side of Berk to draw them away, but I'd rather they give up on the idea that the Emulator is still on Berk at all."

Cami eyed him appraisingly. "Are you sure you're a good enough actor under pressure to do this?"

"I'll have to be. There's no backing out now, it'll only make me look suspicious." Hiccup ventured a smile. "Besides, I've done alright so far, haven't I?"

"You've done… adequately," Cami allowed. "Fine. Dig yourself deeper, if you enjoy it so much. But I want you here for training every hour you're not with them."

"Deal." Hiccup, enthused by his success, sidled closer to the blonde and tried to brush his hands against her hips. She moved smoothly out of his reach and waggled a finger under his nose.

"Now, now, don't get presumptuous," she teased. "If you train _really_ hard today, maybe I'll allow you to share the foldout with me again. Maybe."

Hiccup knew from the glint in Cami's eyes that if he pulled her into a sudden kiss, she'd probably go along with it, but he was too off-guard from the meeting with the other interns to summon the necessary confidence. Instead, he let the moment pass and began to stretch his already-tired muscles.

"Alright, slave-driver," he grunted. "What's first?"

Only a day had passed since they'd stolen the carbon nanotubes, so Hiccup was pleasantly surprised by how little his muscles hurt upon beginning their routine.

This time, there was a third participant: Toothless followed the two humans around as they used various surfaces to practice climbing techniques or gymnastics, and, after a confused few minutes, the Night Fury began to copy them.

The routine became part exercise, part dragon-training as they taught Toothless to be a little less reckless with his own body. Teaching the energetic dragon self-control would be important once the adult body was finished – Hiccup still had frightening dreams about a huge, unstoppable beast rampaging through the warehouse and bringing the police down on them in minutes.

The long day ended with Hiccup lying on the foldout, sore as all hell, while Cami massaged his back.

"Have you figured out how we're going to steal the AMORR system?" asked Hiccup between groans of relief as knots were worked out by Cami's nimble fingers.

"Taking one from the facility they're stored at would be stupid," she said calmly. "There's no way for us to know what's inside, and just getting on the island would be a challenge in itself. No, the easiest way would be to intercept the cargo ship before it reaches Norway."

"Uh-huh," Hiccup said distractedly. "And how will we do that?"

"The ship will dock twice at Berk: once on its way to the facility where AMORR is kept, and once on the way back. If we're quiet enough, we can sneak on board when it docks the first time, hide until it picks up the AMORR devices, and then sneak off when it docks here the second time. The devices aren't very large according to the shipping manifest, so we should be able to get one of them out without any problems."

"If we don't get shot full of holes," Hiccup added.

"There's always that risk. Roll over," Cami ordered.

Hiccup did as directed, shifting onto his back so Cami could reach his aching chest and abdomen. Many of the exercises depended on a strong core, so he always felt like a twisted-up ball of tension by the end of each session.

"How come you never ask for a massage?" said Hiccup, laying his head back and closing his eyes.

Cami laughed softly. "You'd get 'distracted' before finishing one muscle group." One of her hands drifted below his navel, making him jump. "See? You're distracted just thinking about it," she said triumphantly.

"That's a simple biological response," Hiccup mumbled. "Nothing to do with me."

But Cami's hand remained where it was, and Hiccup's breathing shortened as the massage became something else entirely.

* * *

Cami accompanied Hiccup partway back to the facility. Her step had a little more spring in it, but when he asked what she was so happy about, she just giggled something about 'fixing their power dynamic'.

It was nearly midnight when Hiccup wandered through the mess hall and into the intern wing. As he made for Astrid's room, he bumped into Fishlegs, nearly scattering the sheaf of papers in the large boy's arms.

"Hiccup!" exclaimed Fishlegs. "Where have you been? I've been wanting to go over some ideas for tracking the..." he cut himself off and glanced up and down the short corridor, "The _thing_."

"I kinda had some stuff to take care of," Hiccup said with a shrug. "You could've called me."

"I don't have your number."

Astrid's door opened and she leaned out to wave at them. "Come on, we shouldn't talk out here," she said quietly. Hiccup wondered if his paranoia had rubbed off on her.

The twins and Snotlout joined the group minutes later, and they gathered excitedly in Astrid's impeccable room.

"Hiccup, do you want to check for listening devices?" asked Astrid.

Hiccup winced. "Sure, but maybe don't announce that so loudly next time."

While Hiccup worked, Astrid got everyone to exchange phone numbers. She'd overheard Hiccup chatting to Fishlegs, and decided if they were really going to investigate on their own, they needed to at least be able to contact each other.

When everyone was finally settled, Astrid nodded at Fishlegs. "Finn, have you got something to show us?"

Fishlegs hesitated under the eyes of the other interns, so Hiccup gave him a friendly smile. Seemingly encouraged, Fishlegs laid the sheaf of papers out on Astrid's bed. "I've been doing some research into how we might acquire the materials necessary to build a device that can detect the Emulator's energy signature," he explained.

Hiccup examined the pages carefully, and was relieved to find that the research was very, _very_ preliminary. They were literally lists of components and types of wiring and sensors. There were no blueprints or further plans at all. There lay the difference between Hiccup's and Fishlegs' planning style: Hiccup jumped straight into his projects once he was sure they would work, while Fishlegs preferred a slower, more methodical approach. There wasn't really anything _wrong_ with such an approach, it just took longer. Thinking back, Hiccup decided it probably explained why Fishlegs tended to edge out Hiccup in their report cards when it came to theory.

In essence, Fishlegs was the algorithm, Hiccup was the code.

"Nice work," said Astrid, nodding as she looked over the pages. "Hiccup, do you have anything to add to this? You have similar skillsets, if I recall."

Hiccup glanced at the pages, then at Finn, and then Astrid in succession.

 _I should tell them I think Fishlegs is off to a good start, and we should keep researching. I should remind them that good science takes time, and that the device won't be built overnight. That will probably comfort Fishlegs by giving him all the time in the world to research every tiny bit of vaguely-relevant trivia, and it might also dampen the others' enthusiasm – maybe even cause them to lose interest in the team._

But with Astrid's clear, vivid blue eyes on him, Hiccup felt the sudden desire to appear to be very, very useful.

"It's a good start," Hiccup said, scratching his chin while he thought. "But we don't really need to reduce the components down to the bare wires, do we? Most of the circuit boards and sensors already exist, we'd just need to modify them."

"Hey, yeah," Fishlegs said brightly, getting into it. "By picking up a few parts from tech stores, we could have this thing built in just a couple of days."

Hiccup winced internally, both at himself and at Fishlegs for once again mirroring his thought processes. The excited smile that briefly flitted across Astrid's face was fun to witness, but it wasn't worth accidentally advancing the investigation by a couple of weeks.

 _Cami's going to hang me from the workshop rafters when she hears this. She only likes it when I'm whipped for_ her.

"Excellent. Do either of you know how much those components will cost? If we all contribute, I'm sure we can afford them."

Snotlout snorted. "Or we could just get Hiccup to pay for everything. He's the one with a multi-billionaire Administrator as a dad."

"Isn't your dad also one of the highest-paid members of the Foundation?" asked Fishlegs, not to ward Snotlout off, but just out of interest. Hiccup knew this because Fishlegs _never_ tried to ward people off.

"Well, yeah, but that's company money," Snotlout stammered. "I don't think he'd like it if I tried to use any."

"It's the same situation with me," said Hiccup, declining to add that he did in fact receive a small amount of pocket money in his account each week. It wasn't much, and he _was_ still technically an unpaid intern, but sometimes people had trouble looking past the deep pockets of his father. "Look, this isn't going to be all that expensive. I'm thinking… a thousand, all up."

"A thousand?" said Ruff. "Tuff and I can't even afford to put petrol in our van most days."

"It gets great fume mileage, though," Tuff added.

"We can pay for fuel too," said Hiccup, exasperated at how complicated they were making everything. "So a thousand, plus a hundred for fuel, divided between all of us… 184 each. Can everybody find that much? If it takes a couple of weeks, so be it." He added that last bit on hopefully, to try and make up for accidentally accelerating the investigation.

Astrid nodded silently, and Hiccup already knew she had the means to make money. Snotlout shrugged casually, and Hiccup knew by chance that Steinar gave his son much more pocket money than Stoick gave Hiccup.

Fishlegs bit his lip worriedly. "I'll have to dip into my savings for the first time ever… but I guess it has to be done," he said.

"No way," said Tuff, folding his arms simultaneously with Ruff.

"We're barely getting enough shifts at the deli to cover our food, car, and phone plans as it is," said Ruff. "And we pool all of our cash, so if you think we can just open our pockets and pull out a couple hundred dollars, you're out of your mind."

"Alright," said Astrid placatingly. "If the twins don't pay, what will it cost the rest of us? Assuming that they pay their due by allowing us to use their car for the wardriving." The twins nodded.

"That comes to about 275 each," Hiccup provided.

"Oh, no." Fishlegs was now the one shaking his head. "My mother still monitors my account since I became an adult less than a year ago. There's no way I can take such a huge chunk out of my savings without being asked why."

"Hiccup," Astrid said suddenly, "Don't you have a lot of spare parts in your room? Is there a chance you might already have something we need?"

"How would you know what's in his room?" Ruff asked teasingly. Astrid displayed no visible reaction.

"Not for this, no," lied Hiccup, also ignoring Ruff. He decided he needed to get his head on straight and start being a good spy instead of an easily-entranced young male. "Why don't we all just save what we can over the next week or so, and then we'll revisit this? In the meantime, Fishlegs – sorry, Finn – can finish researching, and I can draw up some blueprints."

The others seemed to like the idea, but Astrid had a firm set to her jaw that told Hiccup it wasn't going to be that easy. "We're already two months behind the thief. We can't afford to wait any longer," said Astrid. "Listen, people, we really need to pull together on this and find some money. Any ideas?"

"I _guess_ I could pay the twins share, if it means that much to you," Snotlout said, inspecting his nails.

"That's… very generous of you," Astrid replied in measured tones. Hiccup hoped Snotlout would follow up his offer with a bit of unrequited flirting, but he didn't. That would've been sure to make Astrid reject his money.

Hiccup decided to try and dissuade Snotlout himself. "You realise that means you'll be paying 550 dollars, right? As in… _half_ ," said Hiccup.

To his dismay, Snotlout laughed. "I've got a stereo in my room back home that's worth ten times that. This is nothing."

The financially-challenged in the room were less than impressed, but Astrid forestalled any bickering by clapping her hands. "That's settled then. Everyone, bring your contributions to tomorrow's meeting, and we'll give the money to Finn and Hiccup so they can buy what they need."

Despite Snotlout clearly finding the idea of putting his money (or rather, his father's money) in their safekeeping more than a little abominable, there was a chorus of agreeing noises and the meeting came to an end.

* * *

"You're an idiot," observed Cami.

Hiccup rolled his shoulders in a guilty shrug. "She looks too much like you. My try-to-look-impressive reflex kicked in."

They were sitting on a curb in the quiet western district, not far from the docks, sharing some fish and chips. It was nearly eleven in the morning, but the streets were still quiet.

"You're so full of it," Cami laughed, stealing one of his chips. "As long as you remember to sabotage the device before they bring it near the workshop, there shouldn't be any problems."

Hiccup ventured an arm around Cami's waist, and she allowed it. He couldn't get over that – years of secret fantasies about the cocky blonde thief, and it turned out all he had to do was become a thief himself.

 _I'm not stealing for personal gain. Ethically speaking, I'm still in the clear, since I'm trying to improve an endangered animal's quality of life._

Hiccup was very good as justifying things.

"Reflexes or stamina. Which do you want to work on next?" said Cami, brushing salt from her fingers and getting to her feet.

"Which one is a euphemism for the bedroom?" Hiccup asked hopefully.

Cami smiled nastily. "Neither. I need you in top form when we go for the AMORR system. Better get ready to sweat, loverboy."

And sweat he did. Hiccup was so tired by the time midnight arrive once more that he almost skipped the meeting with the other interns just to get an extra hour of sleep. But duty came first, and he couldn't afford to be out of the loop when the investigation was already progressing faster than planned.

Mercifully, the meeting was shorter than usual, as it was mainly about giving the 1100 dollars to Hiccup and Fishlegs.

Hiccup stole a few hours of sleep in his room at the facility for once, then took a bus with Fishlegs in the morning.

"This is kinda exciting, don't you think?" Fishlegs whispered as the bus rumbled through the city, heading for the commercial district. "I've never done anything like this before."

"Yeah, shopping for parts is always an adrenaline rush," Hiccup replied dryly.

"Not _that_. I mean…"

"I know what you mean. I can't say I've done much of this sort of thing either." Technically true.

Fishlegs was practically bouncing in his seat. "If we're successful, this could open a lot of doors for us."

Hiccup threw Fishlegs a side glance. "I didn't know you were the ladder-climbing sort. No offense."

The large boy waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, I don't care about that sort of thing. What I mean is, if we save this project – which is already the most important one the Foundation has – then imagine what projects we might get assigned to next!"

Hiccup looked behind him, but the bus was empty. "Keep your voice down," he said anyway. As the leading expert in paranoia, he knew talking about sensitive subjects on public transport was a terrible idea.

"Right. Sorry," whispered Fishlegs, blushing. He still rocked slightly from suppressed enthusiasm.

"So did you find a store that stocks everything, or are we gonna make multiple stops?" Hiccup changed the subject.

"Just one stop. The place I'm thinking of has everything from computer parts to studio cameras and microphones, and of course, all the guts we need."

They left the bus, and Hiccup began to feel a worrying tingle on the back of his neck. They were wandering through the westernmost part of the commercial district, still a fair way from the workshop, but any proximity closer than downtown made him nervous.

Fishlegs led the way, crossing the quiet street and heading for a tech store that looked awfully familiar.

 _I stole Toothless's auditory sensors from this place!_

Hiccup's heart rate doubled as they entered the store. He began overthinking every step as he tried to remember how not-guilty people walked, resulting in an awkward stumble that probably drew more attention than he would've avoided. The man behind the counter met his eyes, but if there was recognition within them, Hiccup couldn't tell.

"Hello," Fishlegs said cheerfully, marching straight up to the counter.

"How're you doing, lads?" nodded the man. His ginger beard was braided in a medieval fashion, with little bells that jingled when he spoke.

"Very well, thank you. We have a list of parts we'd like to purchase. Would you mind checking if you have them all in stock?" Fishlegs slid a folded notebook page across the counter.

Hiccup remained silent, slightly hidden behind Fishlegs' body. For the first time ever, he cursed the growth spurt that had left him at a gangly 6'1". Fish was only 5'9", which reduced his effectiveness as a hiding place significantly.

 _Pull it together! He doesn't know it was you! How could he? You deleted the footage and left no evidence._

Taking a silent, deep breath, Hiccup stepped out from behind Fishlegs and leaned casually on the counter. The bearded man didn't even look at him, too busy typing different product codes into his computer and making notes about what was in stock.

"Seems like we should have everything," he said after a few minutes, still staring at the screen. "I wasn't sure about those Muttonbrand Modular Sensors – they're a subsidiary of Meathead Technologies after all, and we barely get any of their stock as it is – but it looks like we have a few left over out the back. Will you boys be paying for it all upfront?"

"You bet," Fishlegs said cheerfully.

They stood around for a while as the man began fetching bits and pieces from around the store. A couple of customers came in to browse, but it was still fairly quiet. Hiccup was entertaining himself by watching Fishlegs pretend not to watch a buxom bespectacled girl that was browsing through software when the door opened inwards, revealing two members of Berk Security – the main policing force on the island.

Hiccup's grin froze on his face as though the wind that followed the cops inside had turned him to ice. They wore dark blue long-sleeved thermals, Kevlar vests, and had pistols bobbing at their hips. Their eyes were serious and carried the cold strength of authority that made Hiccup wish he'd just skipped the whole damn day and stayed with Cami.

"Can I help you?" asked the man behind the counter as he scanned and bagged the various parts.

"We're following up on the burglary report you submitted a couple of months ago," said the female officer, taking a spot at the counter.

"Bit late, aren't you?" the man growled. He clearly felt no fear towards people in uniform.

"We give every report our fullest attention, sir, but more serious crimes will always take priority. Now, the officer who responded when you first made the report stated that the security footage had been tampered with. How many people would have had access to the footage?"

Hiccup couldn't believe he was witnessing _another_ investigation into a crime that he was involved in.

 _Someone upstairs is just screwing with me now._

"Hang on, I'll finish this and we can talk in the back," grumbled the man, who was apparently the store manager. He finished stuffing the components into plastic bags and passed them to Hiccup and Fishlegs. Fishlegs paid with the cash from the other interns, and they made their getaway.

At least, it felt like a getaway for Hiccup. He hoped the cops hadn't been trained to sense when someone is feeling very, very guilty nearby.

Hiccup's heart only began to calm down when they were on the bus once more. "That was fun," he grumbled.

Fishlegs missed the sarcasm. "I know! Though I do have one problem with this."

"What's up?"

"I'm not really the best at constructing tools like this. It took me a month just to upgrade my computer." Fishlegs rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Hiccup smiled. "I'll handle that side of things. Theory and practice, remember? You set 'em up, and I'll knock 'em down."

'Theory and practice' was a quote one of their shared lecturers had used constantly when describing how various students approached their assignments. A Theory student was someone who could bring all the right information together but had no idea what to do with it, while a Practical student could freestyle half an essay on a single reference, but often fell short of success due to the lack of research.

The key, according to Professor Princeton, was to strike a balance.

Hiccup and Fishlegs had studied together exclusively for that unit, and they'd set up a very effective system for producing high-distinction essays. Accusations of collusion had fallen flat thanks to Hiccup's paranoia and their good record (and maybe he'd hacked into the Professor's email a couple of times to head off any unwanted reports about their cooperation). All in all, the experience had taught them to play to each other's strengths.

Unfortunately, Hiccup's situation meant it was necessary to play to Fishlegs' weaknesses instead.

 _Toothless, you had better be grateful._

* * *

The other interns were having lunch in the mess hall when Hiccup and Fishlegs got back.

"Did you get the stuff?" asked Tuff.

Hiccup kept walking, heading for his room. "What stuff?" he replied over his shoulder. Ruff whacked her brother on the shoulder, jerking her head at the semi-busy tables around them.

Once the bag was safely in Hiccup's room, he returned to the table and took a seat beside Astrid, which happened to be the only seat available. He wondered if that was intentional. Astrid _had_ been friendlier lately.

"Well?" Astrid said under her breath, not looking away from her chicken salad.

"Well what?" Hiccup replied, digging in to the tray of sandwiches Fishlegs had gotten for him while he was putting the bag away.

"A simple yes or no will do," Astrid said flatly.

"I'm really not sure what you're talking about." Hiccup gave a pleasant smile when she huffed in frustration.

A vibrating sensation in Hiccup's pocket drew his attention away from teasing Astrid. He pulled the phone out and glanced at the screen. The word 'Camicazi' flashed in white. Between one of the flashes, Hiccup caught the reflection of Astrid's eyes as she subtly glanced down at his phone.

The table behind him chose that moment to begin leaving, which involved a lot of chairs getting pushed back, conveniently making it impossible for Hiccup to get away from his own table, against the wall as he was. Maybe Astrid had intended that too.

Hiccup answered the phone in resignation. "Hey," he said quietly, fully aware that Astrid was close enough to hear. Mercifully, Ruff and Tuff were distracting Snotlout and Fishlegs with a disgusting story, so he didn't have to deal with the usual group teasing.

" _Hey hot stuff, where are you? I thought you were gonna come back here for training after buying all that junk for your nerd friends,"_ said Cami's voice.

"I got held up. I might have to see you tomorrow instead," Hiccup said neutrally, choosing his words carefully.

" _Is something going down?"_ Cami wasn't slow, that was for sure.

Hiccup chuckled as though Cami had said something funny. "Computer building isn't as hardcore as it might sound, you know. It's basically just putting all the bits together, like Lego. If you _really_ need help, I can drop by sometime after midnight."

Cami's tongue clicked audibly in understanding. _"You've got the parts, and you're going to put them together today because you can't think of an excuse to get out of there?_ "

"More or less," Hiccup said casually.

" _Got it. Good luck, cute butt. Try not to fuck everything up."_

"See you."

Hiccup ended the call and put the phone away before returning to his lunch.

"So who was that?" asked Astrid, who was smirking slightly. "Or are you not sure about that either?"

"You can't exactly hold this 'girlfriend' thing over my head anymore," said Hiccup. "You're pushing the boundaries further than I ever did." Now _that_ was a lie.

Astrid glanced nervously at the people behind them, who were finally moving on. "Watch your tongue," she hissed.

The rest of the meal passed quietly. Hiccup was leaning back in his chair rubbing his eyes when the last plate was emptied. The mixed aroma of lasagne, chicken, and the classic scientist fallback of ramen filled the cafeteria, reminding Hiccup of his time at university.

It was the first time he'd been away from Berk for an extended period of time. Since Berk didn't have a university of its own, Hiccup had been sent to the next best thing: a university that was heavily funded by the Hooligan Foundation. Almost everyone who was selected to attend the Aske Institute in Norway went on to work for the Foundation. Some, like Hiccup and Fishlegs, were chosen because they were already connected to the Foundation. The fact that they were quite good at their studies was a useful bonus, however. Otherwise, Hiccup would've ended up in some middle-management position. The _horror_.

Like all major companies, the Hooligans poached promising students from all around the world to keep ahead of the competition. One of Hiccup's computer science classmates, a fiercely intelligent dark-haired girl named Heather, was one such student. One day she'd been excitedly discussing her employment opportunities at the Foundation, the next day she was gone, hooked by Berserker Holdings into attending _their_ company-funded university. Hiccup heard she was flown by private jet the whole way to France.

Not everyone got to the Foundation by getting poached. Astrid and Snotlout had family connections too, but they were more inclined towards leadership than research and development, so they were sent to a different university than Hiccup – something akin to an Officer Academy in the military, where they would learn how to manage large teams and _delegate_ and _synergise_.

Ruff and Tuff, surprisingly, actually made it to the Intern Team on merit alone. Two youths from an average family in suburban America outperformed the majority of applicants in the entrance exam, earning themselves a fast-track ticket to the big leagues.

Hiccup smiled as he listened to the other interns' bantering. They might not sound like it, but they were some of the brightest kids in their fields. Most eighteen year olds didn't have degrees, that was for sure.

For the first time, Hiccup recognised that he was in the company of geniuses.

And he had to fool them all.

 _Maybe it's not so great after all,_ he thought tiredly.

"Are you alright?" asked Astrid, sipping the last of her iced tea. Her question drew the attention of the others, and Hiccup stopped rubbing his eyes in an attempt to appear fine.

"Yeah, just a little low on sleep lately," he replied.

"Oh, just rub it in why don't you," Tuff grumbled. "Meanwhile, I'm riding through a dry spell as long as my –"

Ruff interrupted with a loud cackle. "It doesn't count as a dry spell if you're a virgin. Then it's just called 'being a virgin'."

"What are you laughing about, missy? Don't tell me Finn's already punched your ticket." Tuff turned to Fishlegs. "What'd you do, dangle a chicken wing above your crotch?"

Ruff shoved her brother, he shoved back, and soon they were growling and hissing at each other while the others laughed. It felt good, and Hiccup felt some of the tension in his chest flow away.

 _I've got everything under control for now. Nobody suspects anything. I just have to keep it together, and it'll all be fine._

The mess hall was empty except for a few stragglers, and none of them were close enough to overhear. Hiccup stood to leave. "I'm going to mess around with some spare parts in my room for the rest of the day," he said.

"Mind if I hang around?" said Fishlegs with a slight smile, getting to his feet as well.

Hiccup didn't really want anyone to witness him build the device so he could put a backdoor in it, but he'd worked well with Fishlegs today, so he didn't have the heart to say no.

"Yeah, let's all hang out in Hiccup's room," Snotlout said with a wink, missing the point.

The twins were already up and moving before Astrid opened her mouth to object, but she just sighed and followed them. Hiccup really hated the idea of everyone messing around in his bedroom, but what could he do?

Hiccup unlocked the door and hesitated. He turned to the waiting group behind him, desperate to buy a little time to hide fragile components. "Maybe you should all put your phones and PDAs away so we can speak freely," he suggested.

The second they turned away, Hiccup slipped inside his room and darted about, snatching bits and pieces from the floor and desk and bed and – _good god, why do I have so much crap lying around?_ He jammed the last of the stuff he could reach into a container beneath his bed just as the others let themselves in.

Hiccup felt very self-conscious as they glanced at his meagre belongings. Ruff and Tuff immediately flopped onto his bed like they owned the place, and Snotlout was putting his grubby hands on everything in sight. At least Fishlegs and Astrid stood respectfully in the middle of the room – three idiots was more than enough to deal with at any one time.

"Right," said Hiccup, fiddling with a multitool absent-mindedly. "Well, I don't know why you _all_ had to be here for this, but I'm going to get to work now, so please don't distract me."

The respectful, good people nodded, and the idiots grunted.

Hiccup dumped the bag of components onto his desk and realised he didn't have any blueprints to follow. He hadn't done any of the calculations necessary. He hadn't done any research whatsoever into whether he could actually build a device that could detect the Emulator's energy signature.

He didn't even have his _laptop!_ It was lying next to the foldout bed, discarded after he and Cami had finished watching movies a couple of nights ago.

Hiccup sorted the parts deliberately, buying time to think. There was no way out of this that wouldn't make him look like an incompetent twat in front of the others, and considering his self-esteem was actually above sea-level for once, he didn't want to do anything that brought it crashing down.

 _Alright. Time to freestyle._

Hiccup stared at the parts laid out in rows before him, his fingers twitching as he mentally assembled a dozen different configurations, none of them viable.

 _Come on! Gobber set harder challenges for me than this when I was twelve!_

Purposefully, almost angrily, Hiccup got to work, his nimble fingers darting from part to part with the multitool, occasionally switching to a portable soldering iron. The container under his bed came out, and parts were unceremoniously dumped across the floor once more. Hiccup was too focused to even remember he had an audience, his mind a whirl of resistance maps and circuit diagrams.

An old GPS unit was gutted, its screen harvested from the corpse. Two current detectors were stripped down and then stuffed with new innards. It would be an ungraceful device, ugly even, but Hiccup wasn't capable of thinking aesthetically at that moment.

Would it work?

Yes.

That was all that mattered.

Hiccup fixed up a power supply with appropriate voltage before cutting a crude case out of plastic, then taping it all together into a narrow, white oblong the size of a wine bottle, with two thin rods sticking out the top and a screen on one side. The last bits of jagged plastic and exposed wiring were covered by tape, and the monstrosity was complete.

"Done," breathed Hiccup, brushing his hands off on his shirt.

"Dude…" said Tuff.

Hiccup finally looked at the other interns. He must have lost track of time, because they were all sitting on his bed now, watching him with wide eyes.

"You're a freak," Ruff said with a smile that said she was absolutely okay with that.

"Huh?" Hiccup noticed his spare parts container on its side, contents everywhere. "Oh come on, who knocked that over?" he complained, crouching down to put everything back.

"You did," said Fishlegs. "Jeez, Hiccup. I forgot how you do that sometimes."

Hiccup frowned up at them. They were still giving him weird looks. "Do what? Anyone want to clue me in?"

"Remember that group project in that programming unit in our second year at uni?"

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?" Hiccup continued putting things away.

"The teacher asked you to write a simple algorithm on the whiteboard as an example. You weren't paying attention and thought you were supposed to write an algorithm that would solve the problem that was already on the board – a problem that had been left there from a previous class that was way above our skill level." Fishlegs slid off the bed and wandered over to inspect the new device as he spoke.

"I could see it on your face that you were terrified – you thought the teacher was asking you to seriously solve a problem that nobody in our class was good enough to deal with yet. But then the weirdest thing happened when you got to the whiteboard: you just kinda glazed over and started writing." Fishlegs barked a laugh. "You actually drooled a little, I think. Anyway, the tutor didn't interrupt you because he wanted to see how far you'd get, but fifteen minutes later, you stepped back and said 'done' just like you did now. And the algorithm was perfect."

"So what, I lucked out and got it right," Hiccup said with a shrug, his cheeks burning as he noticed Astrid's considering expression. "I got plenty of questions wrong throughout uni – even failed a couple of assignments here and there. Not to mention, it wasn't a whole algorithm I wrote – it was just an excerpt that dealt with the problem on the board. What's your point?"

Fishlegs _tsked._ "My point is that you seem to work really, really well under pressure." The large boy waved his hands around the desk. "No blueprints. No scrap paper for equations or diagrams. I don't think you even planned on putting this thing together today, did you?"

Hiccup righted the container and slid it back under his bed. "No," he admitted. "You guys kinda ambushed me."

"I get it," Astrid said suddenly. "You didn't want to look bad in front of us, and that provided enough pressure for you to focus so intently."

"Can we skip the psychological evaluation?" Hiccup said, getting flustered at the attention.

"This is good, Hiccup," insisted Astrid. "We're supposed to be a team, but you're hardly ever here. We should've already known this stuff about you."

"Fine, whatever. Enjoy your Sensor. I've got somewhere to be." Hiccup left his room, hoping someone else would lock it when they left. He wanted to hit himself for leaving in such an awkward way – what kind of weirdo fled after getting complimented?

 _I'm like an undeveloped social fetus,_ he thought morosely.

All he wanted to do was get back to Cami and Toothless, where all the quantities were known and he wasn't walking on a razor.

Hiccup was halfway to the workshop when he realised that, in his haze, he hadn't installed a backdoor in the Sensor.

He'd made a fully-operational Emulator-detecting tool, and he'd left it in enemy hands.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Ah, Hiccup. So brilliant, but so socially oblivious.**

 **Feel free to review and tell me what you think.**

 **Proofread by Odael!**


	8. Viking

**Chapter 8: Viking**

Hiccup yanked out his phone and called Astrid. After a single ring, she answered.

" _Hiccup?"_

"Hey, you guys aren't gonna start wardriving without me, are you?" he asked breathlessly.

" _Of course not. You left before showing us how to use the Sensor,"_ Astrid replied, slight irritation entering her voice. _"What was that about, anyway?"_

"Oh, that?" Hiccup laughed awkwardly. "I just really had to be somewhere. You know how it is."

" _Not really. We haven't operated on a schedule for months now."_

"Well I have, and my schedule for today is pretty busy." He decided to play the girlfriend card. "Plus, a certain someone would be upset if I blew her off."

Astrid didn't fold that easily. _"Hiccup,"_ she snapped, _"Finding the project is_ vastly _more important than your libido! You haven't slept at the facility in ages – I think you can take a damn break for once and do what you're supposed to be doing!"_

"You know, intimacy releases endorphins and lowers blood pressure. Maybe the reason I was able to build that Sensor so quickly is _because_ of my libido."

" _Hiccup, so help me god…"_

"Alright!" Hiccup said, exasperated. "Tomorrow morning, eight o'clock. Get everyone who's coming on the wardrive in the twins van, and come pick me up at the diner. Bring the Sensor."

" _Good,"_ said Astrid, finally satisfied. _"You don't have to be so difficult, you –"_

Hiccup hung up on her, grumbling the whole bus ride to the workshop. At least he'd managed to keep the others from using the Sensor for another day, even if the main problem remained.

 _I_ have _to keep them away from the workshop until I can sabotage the Sensor. Berk's a big place, surely it won't be too hard._

Cami was less optimistic about the situation. Hiccup knew this because she insisted on skipping half their routine and getting straight into hand-to-hand sparring.

After being thrown to the floor of the workshop for the sixth time (and wishing they had a foam mat for the millionth time), Hiccup tapped out of the match. "You know," he panted, "They have these things called punching bags that don't feel pain when you take out your anger on them. Might want to look into it."

Cami blew a strand of golden hair out of her eyes and stared down at him imperiously. "Maybe you should learn to take a punch better," she countered.

"Are you kidding?" Hiccup pushed himself to his feet unsteadily. "I'm practically an expert."

"So are you gonna sabotage the Sensor-thingy when you go on the first wardrive tomorrow morning?"

"That's the plan. Although, maybe it would pay to instead find a way to shield the Emulator so the signature isn't so easy to detect."

"I'd prefer sabotage," Cami said flatly. "Let's not overcomplicate this. If they detect even a _whisper_ of energy when they drive past this warehouse, we lose everything." She jerked her chin towards the adult Night Fury body lying on a large workbench. "That thing isn't ready to go yet, so it's not like Toothless can just bust out of here if the cops show up."

"I know, I know," Hiccup sighed, rubbing his temples. "Wait, I've got it! I don't have to shield the Emulator – I just have to camouflage it! Drown it out with white noise, so to speak."

"Let me guess, we have to steal some crazy component in order to do that?" Cami drawled, though a smile quirked at the corner of her mouth as she watched him get worked up.

"No, no, I can do it right here," Hiccup replied absently, digging through parts. "I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner." He pulled out a small generator and hooked it up to an antenna with a silver sphere on its tip. "The Sensor has a range of about two hundred and fifty metres, so its power is spread over a large area, meaning it's vulnerable to this kind of deception." Hiccup huffed a laugh. "Good thing I didn't make it more powerful, or it'd blow right through this thing."

Hiccup stood up and clapped his hands. "Done. Remember to keep this on at all times, and refill the generator when it runs out. Should last a while, though, so don't worry too much about it."

Cami flicked the antenna, watching it wobble. " _This_ is gonna stop one of _your_ inventions? No offence, Hiccup, but I think you're underestimating yourself. Are you _sure_ you didn't account for this when you built the Sensor-thingy?"

"Positive," Hiccup said smugly. "Man, I am on a _roll_ today! Everything is under control." Cami raised an eyebrow at that, and Hiccup wished it hadn't sounded like a question.

They spent the rest of the afternoon training Toothless, though sometimes it seemed like the dragon was training them. Hiccup got more than enough cardio chasing the Night Fury around the workshop, while Cami laughed at the little robot's antics.

Toothless knew his own name, as well as Hiccup and Cami's. The dragon still scratched at its nose every now and then when he tried to smell them, but there was nothing to be done about that until they'd stolen the AMORR system. Hiccup couldn't imagine what it must be like to have his senses vanish or diminish suddenly, with no discernable reason.

"Hang in there, bud," he said softly, stroking the dragon, who seemed to sense it even if he couldn't feel it. "We're working on it. You'll be a proper Night Fury again, you'll see."

* * *

The wardrive began with a very tired Hiccup standing in the freezing arctic wind in front of the diner Astrid worked at. Cami had laughed herself back to sleep when he asked her if she wanted to keep him company until the other interns arrived.

"Filthy thief," he grumbled to himself, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his blue jacket and clenching his teeth to keep them from chattering.

An unfamiliar behemoth screeched around the corner and barrelled down the street towards him. What at first appeared to be some kind of abomination awoken from an unholy cocoon at the bottom of the ocean was in fact a van, painted a bright, aposematic green and speckled with orbs of scarlet trailing in patterns that clustered around the front windows. On the license plate, in mucous green, was **THRSTN.**

 _Thorston._

The van screeched to a halt in front of Hiccup, and the side door slid open. Snotlout nodded to Hiccup in greeting, then leaned out and emptied his stomach on the curb.

"Oh, jeez! Are you alright?" Hiccup walked in place worriedly, not really wanting to get closer.

The passenger window rolled down and Ruff stuck her head out. "Hey, Hiccup! Checkin' out the Zippleback, I see!" she cackled.

Hiccup glanced between her, Snotlout, and the horrifying van. "Yeah, it's… really something," he replied.

"Stein? Are you okay?" came Fishlegs' worried voice from within the van. Hiccup could see Astrid back there as well, holding the Sensor. He directed a questioning shrug at her and mouthed 'what', and she replied with a shrug of her own.

"Come on kids, let's get this thing rolling!" called Tuff. Snotlout wiped his mouth, waving off Fishlegs' offered hand, and Hiccup climbed in after him. It was cramped and foul-smelling, but once again Hiccup found himself sitting next to Astrid, so her perfume helped keep the air breathable.

 _Does she just save seats for me now, out of nowhere?_

"How's your endorphin level?" she said under her breath.

"Don't start," Hiccup muttered back.

Tuffnut turned around in the driver's seat, cutting off any reply Astrid might have had. "Wondering why we called it the Zippleback?" he asked confidently.

"Not particularly, no," Hiccup replied.

"It's the Viking name for a two-headed dragon species," Ruff said anyway. "We figured – hey, this thing's a beast, and we've got two heads between us, and _bam_ , history was made."

"Welcome to hell," Snotlout whispered, already turning green as the van lurched into motion once more.

The twins drove as though they were in an invincible, inertia-proof bubble that would bounce off anything it impacted, instead of a furious, roaring van that belched fumes from every orifice.

Hiccup occupied himself by taking the Sensor from Astrid and fiddling with the display. It flickered to life, showing no sign of nearby energy signatures.

"Astrid, got your PDA on you?" he asked over the engine. She pulled out her PDA and he handed her an SD card. "I took the liberty of writing a program that will tell us what route to take to cover all of Berk. Put that in and it should open the mapping program to provide directions."

"Good thinking," Astrid replied, inserting the card. Immediately, a map of Berk appeared. "Alright, Tait, get us to the southern docks," called Astrid. "That's our starting point."

Hiccup passed the Sensor to Fishlegs. "You wanna do the honours?"

Fishlegs nodded, focusing intently on the little screen. Hiccup, already knowing they wouldn't find anything, felt no desire to stare pointlessly at the Sensor for however long they drove today.

"This route seems strange," said Astrid, and Hiccup's stomach performed a perfect triple somersault.

"What do you mean?" he asked dumbly.

"Starting at the southern docks is obvious, but why wouldn't we immediately check the western docks afterwards? If the Emulator is still on Berk, it could be in one of the many warehouses owned by other companies and private individuals," explained Astrid.

"Well," Hiccup freestyled, "The western docks don't move stock anymore, so whatever's in those warehouses has been there for ages. The southern docks are in full use, so it makes sense to start with them in case we catch the Emulator just as it's being moved. After that, we comb downtown, a busy, densely populated area that would be easy to hide a small cube in. Then, the residential district in the east, for similar reasons. The few locations along the northern coast road could serve as the next-likely spot, and they bring us neatly around to the western docks, where we can cover the last few blocks and seal the deal. It's efficient, it keeps us from going over the same ground, and it reaches the most likely places quickly."

Astrid, for once, seemed to buy his explanation, but he still didn't like the fact that she was astute enough to notice the weird order. In truth, searching both docks would be the most logical thing to do, since many buildings there were owned by people and companies outside of the Foundation – like Cami's workshop. The legal red tape alone would be enough to delay a raid from Berk Security, even if they knew which warehouse it was in. Of course, he doubted Sif would hesitate to break a few rules to get the Emulator back.

Hiccup was walking a fine line. If something happened to the counter-charge at the workshop, nothing would stop the Sensor from detecting Toothless inside.

* * *

Six hours later, they decided to call it a day. Berk wasn't tiny, and the southern docks were labyrinthine in nature, so they hadn't finished combing every street yet. Astrid saved their progress on her PDA, vowing to pick up the trail again tomorrow.

Not everyone was as eager to do this for the foreseeable future.

"You know what?" said Snotlout, looking quite pale and sickly. "Considering I'm funding half of this operation, I think I've earned the right to sit it out and let you guys do the driving."

"I was just thinking something similar," said Astrid. "We shouldn't _all_ have to be in the van to get this done. How about we split into teams of two? One person drives and the other handles the map and Sensor."

"We can draw up a roster," Fishlegs nodded agreeably. "That way nobody gets burnt out from constant wardriving."

"I'll make the roster tonight," declared Astrid. "We won't bother meeting at midnight anymore. I'll text whoever is on wardrive duty tomorrow and we'll go from there."

After a day sitting in a gross van, Hiccup was looking forward to a full day of training with Cami. There was only a week and a half before the AMORR operation, and it was promising to be their most difficult one yet.

Unfortunately, he woke to a text from Astrid.

 **Hiccup, the others seemed pretty worn out from yesterday, so I think you and I should take today's shift on the wardrive. I'll pick you up at the same place.**

"Oh, come on!" he whined, already mourning the lost hours that could have been used for training. Cami, who was reading over his shoulder, _tsked_ irritably.

"She's making moves on you," she said.

Hiccup laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. She only just stopped hating me for whatever reason. I don't think anyone can move on to romantic attraction that quickly."

Cami shook her head as though he was being dense. "Sometimes I forget how little experience you have with women. Just try not to let her wrap you around her finger, alright? And don't you _dare_ wrap her around _your_ finger, buddy." She poked him in the chest. Hard.

Hiccup nodded quickly. "I'll be as sexy as a soggy newspaper."

Cami snorted and pecked his cheek.

* * *

Hiccup once again stood outside the diner as the Zippleback pulled up in front of him. Astrid leaned across from the driver's seat and opened the passenger door.

"Morning!" she said brightly as he climbed in and put his seatbelt on.

"You seem awfully chirpy," Hiccup said suspiciously, arranging the Sensor and PDA in his lap.

"I just finally feel like we're making progress in the investigation. Even if we don't find anything, at least we'll know for sure that the Emulator isn't on Berk." Astrid indicated two steaming takeaway coffee cups in the centre cup holder. "The one on the right is yours."

Hiccup blinked. "Thanks. I probably should've brought snacks or something."

"Don't worry about it. Where's our starting point for today?"

They got straight into the pointless search, and Hiccup sank back into his chair, already anticipating an entire day of absolutely nothing.

They chatted as they 'worked'.

"You know, this van isn't as horrible when someone other than the twins is driving," Hiccup commented around a burnt tongue. The coffee was taking forever to cool down.

"Thank you." Astrid apparently took that as a compliment on her driving skills. "Honestly, I haven't driven a car since I passed my license test. I don't have a car of my own yet, and my mother doesn't like anyone touching her baby."

Hiccup snorted a laugh. "Same here. Gobber used to let me drive his pickup whenever I stayed at his place, but Dad's cars are all million-dollar tanks with armour plating out the exhaust. I think you need a truck license to drive them."

Astrid glanced at him, and he pretended to be focused on the Sensor display. "I'm surprised your father allows you so much autonomy. Isn't he worried someone might kidnap you and hold you for ransom?"

"He used to assign bodyguards to me and make me check in every hour whenever I was outside the house, but I got so good at slipping away and exploring the city that he stopped bothering. Besides, the Foundation owns this entire island; it wouldn't exactly be easy to keep me hostage for long, not when the average person would get rewarded beyond their dreams for finding me."

Astrid laughed softly. "I shouldn't be surprised. You've been relaxed about rules since the day I met you."

"Says the girl who's running a vigilante group behind her mother's back," Hiccup shot back with a smirk.

He was rewarded with a faint blush. "Yes, well, I prefer to think of this as going above and beyond the call of duty," she replied.

"That's probably what they'll call it in the award ceremony if you succeed."

"If _we_ succeed."

"Right." Hiccup turned back to the Sensor.

The conversation briefly abated as the van passed through a quiet portion of the southern docks. Hiccup got a glimpse of a docking yard and decided he wasn't looking forward to breaking in. The security was far more noticeable than at the Visithugs' warehouse, and that wasn't exactly a picnic.

"Eyes on the Sensor, Hiccup," Astrid reminded him. "I know it's boring, but we can't afford to miss anything."

"I've been thinking about that," said Hiccup, an idea blossoming in his mind's eye. "I think I could make a small adjustment to this thing so that it will emit a loud noise if it detects the Emulator. It would severely diminish the capacity for human error."

"Will you need to buy any more parts for that? I really don't want to have to get Stein to pay for anything else."

"No, I should have everything I need in my room. Hey, if the Sensor makes a sound, there won't be any need for two people to be driving at any one time." Hiccup attempted another sip of coffee, this time only scalding a quarter of his taste buds.

"I figured you'd say that," said Astrid quietly.

Hiccup eyed her curiously, caught off-guard by her tone. He thought back a few steps in the conversation and realised she probably took his suggestion the wrong way.

Hiccup cleared his throat. "Well, I mean, we should probably keep wardriving in pairs for transparency's sake –"

"No, if you've found a more efficient method, we should use that," Astrid said firmly.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean it as though I don't want to wardrive with you," said Hiccup, rubbing the back of his neck.

 _Man this is weird._

"It's fine," Astrid said after a moment, rolling her shoulders stiffly. "I know I wasn't exactly polite to you when this all started. I imagine there must be some residual… feelings."

"What? No, no, that's just, you know, water under the bridge. You were probably under a lot of stress."

"That's no excuse." Astrid's fingers tightened around the steering wheel. "I was unnecessarily harsh on you, and now you're the most useful person on the team."

"First impressions can be deceiving," Hiccup said lightly, trying to inject a bit of humour into the conversation.

"Will you stop dodging my apology? This is hard enough as it is," growled Astrid.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologise, that ruins the whole point!"

"Sorry," Hiccup said again, grinning.

Astrid glared at him, but broke into laughter a moment later. "Just watch the damn sensor, Haddock," she said, flicking her hair out of her eyes.

* * *

The van rolled to a stop in front of the diner. Hiccup checked his watch tiredly.

"Seven o'clock," he muttered.

Astrid ran a hand through her hair and let her head fall back against the headrest. "We covered a lot of ground today. Tomorrow, whoever's on duty can cover the downtown area. It's smaller than the docks, so it should only take a day," she said.

"That depends on who's driving," Hiccup replied dryly.

"I think Rae and Finn should keep each other in check. I'm not sure about putting Tait and Stein together on the day after, though. They influence each other's behaviour a lot."

"They'd probably spend the day hanging out and just _say_ they went wardriving."

Astrid nodded. "My thoughts exactly. You'd better join them. They might not listen to you, but they know you'll report any wrongdoing to me."

"Hey now, let's not go crazy," Hiccup motioned placatingly with his hands. He did _not_ want to spend an entire day in a van with those two. "Let's give them a chance to prove they can handle the job." An idea flared to life in his mind. "Here, I'll link our PDAs so I can remotely monitor the GPS signal. When the time comes for you to give Tait and Stein your PDA, send me a text and I'll track where they go. If they go off-course, I'll let you know so you can bring them back in line."

"That sounds fair. Just remember to un-link our PDAs once this is over. It's technically a security breach." Astrid watched as Hiccup tapped away at both screens.

"I know. This is all part of my master plan to undermine my own place of employment for no reason."

Astrid folded her arms. "I said _technically._ If it were anybody else, I'd refuse."

"Would _you_ like to spend an entire day with Stein and Tait? Tait will probably insist on driving, too."

Grimacing, Astrid glanced out the window. The red light from the sign above the diner made her pale skin glow. "I'd prefer Finn or Rae, but then I'd end up taking every single shift," she said.

"I don't think I could stand a whole day with any one member of the team," Hiccup admitted absently, finishing the final few adjustments that would allow him to take remote control of Astrid's PDA. "Finn is a good guy, but he has a tendency to regurgitate information non-stop. It's exhausting to listen to. Rae and Tait are… Rae and Tait. Stein might be okay, but the guy's got an inferiority complex the size of Odin, and I'm one of the few people who has family members that outrank his. It wouldn't be fun, is what I'm getting at."

"What about me? Think you can stand another shift?" Astrid was clearly trying to sound casual, but her stilted tone made it awkward.

 _Why is_ she _feeling awkward? She's not the one who has to transfer the sneakiest backdoor program ever to another person's PDA._

"Yeah, of course," doing his best to sound casual and probably failing as much as she did. "I'm kinda enjoying not being at each other's throats all the time."

Astrid exhaled quietly. "Yeah, me too."

Hiccup passed Astrid her PDA. "Done. Just send me a text whenever you want that thing tracked and I'll activate it."

"Great. Good work today."

"Yeah, you too."

An awkward silence filled the van.

"I should… probably get this monster back to Rae and Tait," said Astrid, patting the steering wheel.

"Right, yeah," Hiccup jolted into motion, gathering his stuff and opening the door. "Well, uh, catch you later."

Hiccup fought down his guilt as he made the long walk back to the workshop. The sun had set, and the icy evening breeze stung his nose and cheeks. His thermal underclothes kept out most of the cold, but he didn't have any protection for his face.

With Astrid's PDA linked to his own PDA, it would be child's play to get a bug onto her laptop. And yet, despite how necessary it was – Sif's investigation might not be moving quickly, but if they found a trail she wouldn't hold back – he still felt like an asshole for abusing Astrid's trust.

"It's for Toothless," he mumbled to himself. "Just think of Toothless. They'll tear him to pieces if they find him."

That strengthened his resolve, but lingering doubts remained.

"Cami, you home?" he called as he walked into the workshop.

"This isn't my home," she replied, not looking up from the little Night Fury she was petting. "It's more like a safehouse."

"Glad to see you two getting along." Hiccup smiled as Toothless perked up upon hearing his voice.

"So did you end up banging her?" Cami asked casually.

"What?"

"That Astrid girl. You should at least share the details with me if it's gonna be a thing."

Hiccup bristled. "No, I didn't do anything except drive with her."

"Shame. You could've gotten access to her room and put the bug on her computer." Cami inspected her nails.

"I found another way. I linked her PDA to mine, so when she brings her PDA back to her laptop to charge it, I'll be able to insert the bug." Hiccup folded his arms irritably. "And why would you suggest that, anyway? I thought you and I —"

"We are," Cami assured him quickly. "I was just being snarky 'cause I've been cooped up with this little monster all day." Toothless cocked his head, but apparently wasn't insulted enough to refuse a pat. "So when are your wardrive buddies going to reach our area?"

"At this rate… roughly the same time we go for the AMORR system."

"You really like to cut things close, don't you?"

* * *

The final two weeks passed faster than Hiccup expected. Even though every third day was spent entirely inside an ugly van, his newfound friendship with Astrid made it much more bearable. The rest of his free time was spent training with Cami, pushing his body further each day. Hiccup knew that if he didn't have Cami and Toothless to motivate him, he'd stop in an instant. It was hard enough to force himself through each exercise, even with their encouragement.

The training tapered off in the last couple of days to prevent him from being sore on the day of the operation. At the same time, the wardrive had almost finished the northern coast road and would begin searching the western docks the day after the operation. Even worse, that day was rostered as a Hiccup and Astrid venture, meaning he wouldn't get any sleep.

Hiccup was used to relying on his brain to get him out of difficult situations, but he'd never been under this much pressure before. Cami seemed to sense he was a bit on-edge, because she began raising his endorphin level twice as often. Hiccup's confidence was shaky at the best of times, and the coming operation looked to be the most dangerous yet.

The time had come.

"Let's go over the plan once more to be sure," Cami said as water lapped around their rowboat. The vehicle was extremely low-tech to avoid detection, and their sneaking suits kept them from being spotted by eye. The fact that it was raining icy water also helped, from an objective standpoint.

From a _sub_ jective standpoint, ice-cold rain _sucks._

"The cargo ship is going to arrive in an hour. It's called the _Hardy Bugger_ and has a mostly red hull. We're going to paddle closer and board it during its brief stop at the southern docks. After that, the _Bugger_ will sail to the Research and Development offshore facility a couple of kilometres to the north-west. They'll bring the AMORR devices on board there. At that point, we'll have roughly one hour before they make their third and final stop, back here at the southern docks, before they set sail for Norway."

"We have to get one of the AMORR devices off the ship before then," said Hiccup. He was getting nervous after going over the plan so many times. He needed to get started soon or he was going to lose his nerve.

Thankfully, the _Hardy Bugger_ arrived on time, the massive cargo ship cleaving a path through the arctic sea as it came in to dock. Hiccup and Cami began to paddle as cranes and automated cargo delivery systems lurched into motion, accompanied by the shouts and orders of dock workers cooperating with the crew.

With all the attention focused dockside, they reached the other side of the ship with only a single Hiccup.

After tying the rowboat to a buoy, Cami's wondrous chest-strapped pockets full of gadgets came into play, and soon they were climbing up a magnetic grappling hook with carbon-strong cable.

Their boots slipped on the hull of the ship as water streamed down with so sign of stopping. Without the extra support of their legs, most of the climbing was done with their arms and core muscles. Hiccup realised very quickly there was a difference between training for something like this in a big warehouse and actually boarding a ship in the middle of the night while it was raining. His muscles already burned from the effort, and he was panting only halfway up.

Modern cargo ships had a skeleton crew compared to old-fashioned models. Like every industry, if a company could save on wages by using automated machinery, they did. All in all, there were only twelve crew members on the ship.

They climbed over the railing and ducked inside an empty cargo container. The sound of rain hitting the top of the container drowned out all other sounds. Hiccup realised he was smiling.

"What is it?" Cami's voice crackled in his earpiece, distorted by the weather.

"I was just thinking about how proud my Viking ancestors would be right now. Boarding a ship and stealing treasure was kinda their thing, wasn't it?" he replied.

Hiccup could only see Cami's eyes because of her balaclava, but he could tell she was looking at him like he was crazy, the same way she could tell he was smiling.

"Sorry," he added quickly. "I'm good."

Cami shook her head and peeked out of the container.

"We can't stay here," she said. "They don't just keep empty containers around for shits and giggles. They might need to exchange it for a full one."

Cami led the way at a crouched run, the rain masking their footsteps. Hiccup could do nothing but trust Cami's guidance as she led him to the bow of the ship. The wide, arrowhead-like area was completely deserted, since all the cargo was in the middle. Shielding them from being spotted from the bridge was a large billboard-like barrier, which was designed to keep containers from sliding off the front in the event of a sudden stop.

"Hope we don't hit an iceberg," Hiccup muttered.

"I know this isn't as intense as the warehouse grab, but try to stay professional," Cami snapped.

Low-intensity was one way to describe it, Hiccup thought.

Nerve-wracking was another.

With only twelve crew members, most of them preoccupied with the cargo, they weren't in danger of being caught by a patrol of security guards. The operation was estimated to take at least twelve hours, eight of which would be spent waiting for the ship to reach its next destination. It also meant that, unlike last time, Hiccup couldn't run on adrenaline alone.

So he went through some of the exercises Cami had taught him, controlling his heartbeat, letting his anxiety slip away.

 _We are in control. The plan is intact, and nobody expects a thing._

Cami must have noticed what he was doing, because she nodded approvingly before resuming her watch for stray crewmen.

The weather worsened steadily as the _Hardy Bugger_ moved back out to sea. Rain fell in sheets, turning the entire deck into a slippery, half-frozen safety hazard. Hiccup and Cami had no protection from the rain, and they couldn't afford to move until Cami was certain there were no crewmen walking around.

Through the gap at the bottom of the billboard-shield, Hiccup could see the bridge: a four-story building at the rear of the ship that contained everything from the crew quarters to the kitchen, and of course the main command centre. There were lights on at most of the windows, and Hiccup had no doubt that internal heating systems were pumping warm air through every corridor.

"Aren't we in danger of hypothermia?" he asked over the rain.

Cami shook her head. "I know it doesn't feel like it, but these suits are great at containing and concealing heat. Gloves too. Just bear with it, I think we're almost there."

As if to confirm her statement, the ship's horn sounded, and floodlights appeared in the distance. Cami yanked Hiccup out of sight, but it was still twenty minutes before the _Bugger_ began to dock. A few chanced peeks over the guard rail were obscured by the darkness and rain, but Hiccup could still make out a structure half the size of the facility on Berk, standing on thick struts that disappeared into the black waves. It reminded him of an oil rig without the tower.

The crew were active again, and this time Hiccup and Cami couldn't just hide from them. The AMORR devices could be in any type of packaging, from a couple of cardboard boxes to an entire shipping container, so they needed to be in a position that would allow them to watch everything that came on board.

They snuck around the left of the billboard-shield in order to reach the loading area. None of the cranes were moving, on the rig or the ship. Instead, three crew members stood at the bottom of a ramp as four men in bright-yellow raincoats carried two cylindrical metal cases, one between each pair.

"Wait here," said Cami, shoving him behind a large rivet-shaped protrusion beside the guard rail. Before he could object, she was gone.

"I'm getting closer so I can eavesdrop," her voice said in his earpiece. "Rain always makes it such a bitch."

"What if a crew member comes around the bow and sneaks up behind me?"

"Take him the fuck out," she hissed. "Do you think we spar for fun?"

Hiccup watched his back nervously, but no shapes came sloshing out of the darkness. He controlled his breathing and did his best to steady his shaking hands, the left of which had drifted up to grip the handle of the sword strapped to his back. If he didn't activate it, it would still be a solid weapon in close combat.

"The AMORR things are inside those two cases, three in each one," Cami whispered, her quiet voice barely standing out against the clattering of hard rain against the metal containers stacked nearby. "They're the only cargo being picked up from this place, and the captain is bitching to the R&D guys about how little he's being compensated for the detour." A few seconds passed. "Got it. The cases are going to be stored in the captain's hold, which is more secure than the regular hold. It's where he keeps his booze."

Hiccup almost tried to chew his nails through his gloves. The blueprints of the ship were etched into his mind from weeks of planning, so he knew exactly where the captain's hold was. "Shit," he said.

Cami was suddenly beside him, leading him back around the bow of the ship and circling around so they could approach the bridge from the side of the ship not facing the facility. Their sodden balaclavas clung to their skin and their boots plunged into an inch of water with every step, but they didn't make a sound.

Through the rows of containers, Hiccup could make out the captain and the two crewmembers returning to the bridge with the AMORR cases. Their movements mirrored each other as the bridge loomed, until Cami held up a fist and brought Hiccup to a halt.

The creaking of girders and rushing of water hid any nearby footsteps. A lead ball of tension dropped into Hiccup's stomach, and his neck began to ache as he tried to look in every direction at once. Moments crawled by like seasonal epochs, and his teeth began to chatter from the cold as much as the pressure.

Ten years later, she gave the signal to move again. Getting into the captain's hold meant getting into his quarters, which were just below the bridge at the most stable part of the ship.

They entered through the main door, but instead of going down the stairs, Cami pulled Hiccup up a flight into a small mess room.

"What are you doing?" murmured Hiccup.

"The captain and the guys carrying the crates just went down there. We need to wait for them to come back up." Cami said this so quietly that Hiccup's ears strained to pick out each word, even with the earpiece delivering them straight to his eardrums.

Sure enough, only a couple of minutes passed before the captain and his two crewmen came tromping up the stairs.

"You two go start undocking," said the captain. "I've gotta notify Sif that the cargo is in transit. Until we reach Norwegian waters, those things are the Foundation's responsibility, and she's being a real bitch about security lately."

Hiccup groaned internally. He should've guessed Sif wouldn't just sit placidly while her people searched for the Emulator. There were probably huge reforms going on behind closed doors at Berk Security. This was just one minor consequence, and it was still enough to raise the risk level of the operation.

The two crewmembers went back out onto the soaking deck while the captain muttered his way up another flight of stairs beside the first, heading for the bridge proper. Cami darted forward so suddenly that Hiccup made a little noise as he rushed to keep up. The captain's footsteps paused on the stairs above, then resumed.

 _I'm going to have a heart attack at 18._

The captain's hold was no more than a secluded room with a thick metal door and keypad beside it. Hiccup kept watch as Cami employed some manner of Bog Burglar tech to give a false positive to the keypad, unlocking the door.

The hold was small, about the size of a walk-in pantry. The two cases carrying the AMORR devices lay on the floor, one on its side, a testament to how little the captain cared about Norway's made-to-order electric noses. Sturdy shelves lined the walls, with netting to prevent things falling off during rough seas. A collection of wines and hard liquor were among the captain's prized possessions.

"Ooh," said Cami. "Vintage ports. These would get a good price."

"Try to stay professional," Hiccup whispered, unlatching and opening one of the cases.

The AMORR devices looked like metal CD cases, or perhaps small portable hard drives. They were inlaid in black foam and each came with a lightbulb-like receptor attached by a braided cable. As far as Hiccup could tell, the bulb detected smells and sent them to the case for storage and analysis. Over time, the case would build up a library of familiar smells, just like any creature with a nose.

He took a second to geek out about the potential uses for the device. They could be used to detect dangerous chemicals, explosive compounds, illicit drugs, and even some diseases. If they went commercial, the devices could improve global security tenfold by leaving no place for criminals to hide their products.

Hiccup grabbed one of the devices and stuck it in a sealed bag that he slung over his right shoulder. Cami had finished admiring the wine collection and checked to see if the coast was clear before leading Hiccup back out onto the deck.

Two crewmembers were standing in front of them, frozen in mid-step. The rain and dim lighting didn't hide the surprise on their faces.

Cami moved like lightning, slamming her palm into the chest of one man to wind him, then spinning and delivering a kick that did the same for the other man. They both doubled over, wheezing but unable to yell.

Hiccup hesitated. If he drew his sword, he could threaten them into remaining silent, or whack them while it was inactive. Or he could engage with the skills Cami had taught him, but he'd need to ditch the shoulder bag first or he'd be off-balance. Furthermore, if he waded straight in, he'd only be able to take one man to the ground. He didn't have whatever Cami used to put people to sleep.

By the time he made his decision, Cami had wrestled the man she punched to the ground while the other staggered away. Hiccup darted forward, but his feet slipped on the rain-slicked deck and he ended up colliding with his target, sending them both to the floor.

It can take a couple of minutes to recover from being winded, but that didn't stop the crewmember from flailing his limbs in an attempt to defend himself. Hiccup, caught up in the panic of the moment, wasn't much more elegant as he tried to pin his opponent in a chokehold. In the end, their limbs became so tangled that it functioned as an effective, if unintentional hold, though Hiccup sustained a hard elbow to the face in the process.

Cami was beside them in a moment, and she tilted the man's head before pressing a small device shaped like a stapler against his neck. A few seconds later, the man was limp and breathing slowly.

"Carry him," she ordered, moving to pick up the first man.

They moved quickly, circling around the ship back to their safe spot at the bow. If the crew started searching, it wouldn't remain safe for long, but it wasn't like they had a lot of options. While they sat in contemplation, the ship undocked and began sailing away.

"That's a good sign," said Cami once the rig was out of sight. "It means these two weren't integral to the undocking procedure. That, or the rest of the crew have thought up justifications for their absence in order to avoid searching the ship in the rain."

Hiccup found ID cards clipped to the belts of both men. "One is a Transfer Officer. My guess is he has to oversee any cargo that enters or leaves the ship. The other is a trainee deckhand."

"Hard to tell if they'll be needed before we reach Berk again," said Cami, and Hiccup could tell she was chewing her lip.

"We could steal a lifeboat, maybe? Make an early exit?"

Cami shook her head. "They have tracking devices in them. Plus, the captain would be notified if a lifeboat was released prematurely."

The short trip back to Berk took even longer with the expectation of discovery hanging over their heads. When the lights of the southern docks came into view, Hiccup's heart leapt with the thought of escape.

That is, until he noticed the red and blue lights flashing from a dozen Berk Security patrol cars parked at the docks.

Cami simply said, "They noticed."

"The rowboat. It's probably still tied to the buoy, right?" said Hiccup. Previously, he'd hoped the little boat would be sunk quickly under the rain to erase evidence of their presence in the area, but now he desperately hoped it was still floating.

Cami nodded, and they raced to the side of the ship they had originally entered from. Hiccup snatched up a stray bucket as they ran, and looped the handle over his elbow when they began to climb down the side of the ship.

Moments after they left the deck, floodlights from the docks eliminated every shadow they might have hidden in. Hiccup shivered at the thought of being caught on the deck like deer in headlights. The crew were probably holed up in the bridge where they would remain while the police searched the ship.

After almost ten hours on the job, Hiccup's limbs were aching. He climbed with far less grace than Cami, and when they hung from the lowest point of the ship, he could feel his muscles straining with the effort. He was tired, had been soaking wet for almost half a day, and his cheekbone hurt from where the crewmember had elbowed him.

The _Hardy Bugger_ pulled to a halt, parallel to the docks. The buoy, which served as a marker for ships far bigger than the _Bugger_ , passed beneath them.

Miraculously, the shape of a wooden rowboat was faintly visible beside it, bobbing on the wake of the container ship. Hiccup and Cami lowered themselves down to it, but found it was half-full of rainwater. Any additional weight would make it capsize immediately.

"Shit," said Cami. "We can't escape on this."

Hiccup waggled the bucket in front of her face. "Don't be so cynical," he replied wryly.

Cami helped keep Hiccup steady as he began to bail out the rowboat, one bucket load at a time. The seemingly never ending rain didn't help, but the water level dropped steadily. Shouts from the docks and the bridge indicated the boarding process was about to begin, and Hiccup frantically picked up the pace.

"That'll have to be enough," said Cami, and they lowered the last few feet into the rowboat, water sloshing around their ankles. The boat dipped in the water from the added weight, and a wave rolled over the rim, undoing much of Hiccup's work.

"I'll bail, you row," he said, and they worked without further comment.

The tension had Hiccup trembling as he filled bucket after bucket, especially when the police finally boarded the ship and began demanding submission. The occasional flashlight appeared over the railing, searching for people hanging from the side of the ship.

The bucket was down to scraping only an inch or two of water with each scoop, so Hiccup decided it was time to help Cami and get the hell out of there. They took one oar each and put their remaining strength into each stroke. The rowboat picked up speed, heading towards the western docks. They were two hundred metres from the _Hardy Rudder_ when searchlights began roaming the water for overboard thieves.

"If they bring out the police boats, we're screwed," Hiccup grunted, heaving his oar backwards.

"Average reaction time of Berk Security police boats is twenty minutes," Cami said through gritted teeth. "Even if Sif is tightening her grip, she can't make lazy sailors get up at four in the morning to look for thieves who might not even be out here."

The _Hardy Bugger_ drifted out of sight as they followed the uneven coast. It was too far to row all the way back to the western docks, so they returned to the shore as soon as the southern docks were no longer visible.

"I've come to a decision," panted Hiccup as they pulled the rowboat onto the sand in a little artificial bay. Rowing was serious work.

"Yeah?" said Cami, sounding a bit breathless herself.

"There are still four or five components needed for Toothless's adult body to be complete. He'll need better cameras for eyes, a propulsion system, an inbuilt computer for flight systems, and something that lets him vocalise. The computer and speaker stuff I can do right now. The camera is something we're going to have to steal from Ocular Innovations, which is on the Meathead islands. The propulsion system, however, is going to be the biggest thing."

"So what's the decision?"

"I'm willing to hire someone else to steal it for me. Screw doing this again."

Cami laughed.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Adult Toothless has a nose! Let's hope he doesn't sniff the foldout bed when he gets activated.**

 **In case anyone was wondering, I have this story planned out into several 'phases' or 'acts' in which many subplots can take place. We'll be approaching the end of the first phase in the next couple of chapters. Each act/phase ends with one or several huge changes to the status quo, so if you're getting a bit tired of Hiccup's current modus operandi, fear not! There is a lot more to come.**

 **Proofread by Odael!**


	9. Repeat Offender

**Chapter 9: Repeat Offender**

They left the rowboat in the bay and began the long walk to the western docks. Cami's contact, the one who had provided the boat for them, was on the way to collect it, but under no circumstances were they supposed to meet. That was how the Bog Burglars maintained trustworthy contacts, apparently – they never met them, always paid well, and never asked them to do anything they weren't comfortable with.

While on the streets, Hiccup and Cami took off their balaclavas in an attempt to appear less suspicious. Their stealth suits were still pretty easy to spot, so they stuck to alleys and side streets and kept the noise to a minimum.

Hiccup's sword probably would have drawn eyes too, had there been any to witness it.

The warehouse appeared before them just as dawn broke. Entering the office and stripping out of their soaking clothes was so pleasurable that Hiccup nearly didn't bother dressing again in his normal attire until Cami made a few smirking remarks about the effects of cold water on the male body.

But while the tired blonde thief got to snuggle up on the foldout bed with the heater on and a little Night Fury beside her, Hiccup's day wasn't over yet.

Despite being awake for almost 24 hours, he still had another 6 hour shift with Astrid to pull – and they'd be passing by the warehouse at some point.

There were three things he had to do before leaving to meet Astrid at the diner.

First, Hiccup activated the link on his PDA that connected it to Astrid's. The nature of the program was such that, hopefully, she would receive no notification that he was accessing her system.

As he expected, this early in the morning her PDA was plugged into her laptop, and both were idle, charging. Hiccup used the link to access her laptop through his PDA.

There were two possibilities at this point. One, Sif had given her daughter specific access codes to Berk Security's intranet so she could monitor the investigation, or two, Sif just sent Astrid files about the investigation through the company email service.

Hiccup prayed for the first possibility, and his faith paid off.

But he didn't immediately start rifling through the latest updates. Instead, he used the clearance given to Astrid to read some of the tertiary files – namely the ones that regarded the adaptors for the Emulator.

He didn't copy any files because that would be detected, but he read enough to get what he needed.

The second thing he had to do before leaving was to apply that knowledge to hook up the new AMORR system to the adult Night Fury body. The adaptors could, well, adapt the impulse to smell things into the function of activating the AMORR device. Hiccup finished the installation in record time, feeling quite pleased with himself despite his bone-deep weariness.

The third thing he needed to do was make sure that the Emulator's energy signature was still camouflaged. The generator still had fuel in it despite running almost constantly, but Hiccup topped it up to be sure.

Hiccup realised he was procrastinating, and finally went to the diner to begin another pointless search for the thing he was trying so hard to hide.

Astrid pulled up in the twins' van not five minutes after he arrived, and he hopped in the passenger seat with a mumbled greeting.

Astrid was in the middle of handing him a coffee when she gasped. "Hiccup, what happened to your cheek?"

Hiccup felt the tender area below his right eye and inspected it in the side mirror. "Oh, that. I was leaning on my desk and my elbow slipped." Somehow that seemed better than admitting he'd been elbowed in the face by a crewmember on board a ship he'd robbed. He accepted the coffee.

"You look exhausted." Astrid coughed and began to drive. "Not much sleep last night, huh?" Her cheeks were slightly pink.

"Yeah, but not because of that," he replied, too tired to just accept the easy excuse for his sordid state. "I thought I had a lead," he lied instead, his mind thuggishly putting together a crappier excuse. "Did a lot of research. Turned out to be a complete waste of time."

"Oh, was that why you were accessing my laptop through our PDAs and reading the investigation files this morning?" replied Astrid.

"Um," Hiccup said eloquently. He felt like he'd been sucker punched. "Sorry?"

"Don't worry about it. I know what you're like when you're focused," Astrid gave a small smile. "I'm guessing you didn't even think that they'd be monitoring any external devices accessing those with security clearance. The network security manager called me to see if I'd allowed access to anyone else, and I told him you'd linked your PDA to mine. He got my mother on the line and we had a look at what you were reading and they decided to let it slide as long as I told you to never do it again."

Hiccup just sat there, feeling completely and utterly exposed.

 _I almost fucked everything up._

If he'd had some sleep, he would have known he couldn't just access the system directly through Astrid's PDA. He had been planning to use a slower, subtler approach that would feed him information periodically, not just charge in waving his software around.

"I'm an idiot," he breathed.

"I said don't worry about it," Astrid replied lightly. "It's not like my mother would arrest you anyway. You're the Administrator's son."

"Sure. Right." Hiccup began gulping the scalding coffee down to kick-start his brain.

 _Sleepy brain makes for bad espionage,_ he thought groggily.

Now it would be ten times as hard to get access to Sif's investigation. If he tried again, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to work up the nerve, he couldn't afford to make a single mistake.

The hunt for the Emulator resumed. The atmosphere of the van was a subdued one, as Hiccup kept his mouth shut to avoid saying anything completely stupid, and Astrid was apparently giving him time to wake up. So he sipped his coffee and stared at the Sensor, letting the caffeine reach his brain.

At 11:00AM, Hiccup caught his second wind and felt more or less alert again. He knew it was just a trick of his mind, but he still felt confident that he would be able to avoid incriminating himself for at least a couple of sentences.

So he mustered all the cheer he could manage and asked, "How are you?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow at him.

 _Maybe I'm not as convincing as I thought._

"I'm . . . good," was the slow reply. "All things considered. I've been waiting to search the western docks for weeks. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they would be the perfect place to hide stolen cargo."

"Assuming the Emulator is still on Berk at all," said Hiccup. "You don't sit on that kind of thing and wait for the cops to put the pieces together." Like he was doing.

"Maybe. But even if we don't find anything, we still get confirmation that it's not on Berk."

A few minutes of silence passed, so, on impulse, Hiccup pressed a button on the dashboard.

The radio crackled to life.

" _-daring robbery of a Hooligan Foundation container ship occurred between midnight and four in the morning last night,"_ announced a serious-sounding presenter.

Hiccup stiffened.

" _While the investigation is ongoing, Berk Security have confirmed that they are seeking two suspects, though they have yet to provide any descriptions. B-Sec have also refused to divulge exactly what was stolen, only going as far to say that it represented a significant investment on behalf of the Foundation."_

"Hiccup?" said Astrid, glancing at him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he laughed weakly. "I thought they were talking about the Emulator theft for a second there. It would be a nightmare if the public found out."

Astrid gave a low whistle. "Yeah, my mother's investigation is so secret I think a few people have been detained just as a precaution against loose lips."

The announced continued, _"Captain Michaels says he was double-checking his cargo when he noticed something was amiss, but decided not to risk his crew by searching in the rain, instead calling ahead to the police on Berk. He has expressed his frustration at the reaction speed of the Berk police boats, who he believes are responsible for the thieves' getaway."_

"Probably Bog Burglars, if they got away that cleanly," said Astrid. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, probably." Hiccup changed the station to one that played classical music, just to get his nerves settled. "Any developments on Sif's end?"

"Yes, actually," Astrid said as though she just remembered something. "They've found a connection between the Emulator theft and the theft of some carbon materials from a Visithug Electronics warehouse a few weeks ago."

No amount of classical music could stop the cold sweat rolling down his back. Hiccup sipped at his coffee to give the appearance of nonchalance. "What kind of connection?"

"Well, the Emulator thief cut through a grating on Odin's floor using a tool we haven't seen employed by Bog Burglars before. The warehouse theft shows evidence of the same tool being used, which means it's possible it was the same thief."

"Or it just means the new tool is starting to proliferate through the Bog Burglar ranks," countered Hiccup.

Astrid sighed. "That's what my mother thinks too, given the lack of any other connections. But it's still something worth investigating. If the tool _is_ getting used by more Burglars, there's a greater chance at least one of them will fail and get caught, at which point we can analyse the tool and develop a more effective defence against it."

Hiccup nodded agreeably, almost certain that his voice would crack if he spoke again.

As the van came ever closer to Cami's warehouse, Astrid unknowingly turned the conversation down a similar path.

"Hiccup," she began firmly, before wincing and softening her tone. "I need to ask you about your girlfriend."

Hiccup was already a crumpled ball of nerves and anxiety, and the change in topic did little to calm him. "Why?"

"I've heard a few things about you from the security personnel regarding your ability to hold on to sensitive information," she said delicately, not looking at him.

Hiccup breathed a laugh as he realised where she was going. "I let a few things slip when I was younger, yeah. I'm surprised Dad let me come within a kilometre of the project, given my track record."

Astrid looked relieved. "So you won't be offended if I ask how much you've told her?"

The van turned down Cami's street. Hiccup could see the warehouse coming up on the right. He kept his eyes on the Sensor, gripping it tightly with wet palms.

"No," he replied absently. "She knows there was a bad situation and I'm one of the people trying to un-bad it."

"So you haven't mentioned the Emulator at all? Or the theft?"

The van rolled past the warehouse. The high windows passed entirely too slowly for Hiccup's liking. He could see the alley where he and Cami had once chased Toothless. He saw the doors that led inside, and could imagine the interior, the office where Cami was probably still sleeping, the smouldering barrel where Toothless was probably doing the same.

The van stopped in the middle of the empty road. Astrid reached across to touch Hiccup's shoulder. "Hiccup, I need a straight answer. Have you told her details about what's going on?"

The Sensor was blank. The camouflage worked.

Hiccup let his muscles relax. "No," he said breathlessly. "I haven't told her a thing."

The way Astrid studied his face made him feel like the worst kind of bastard. It was one thing to use half-truths and wordplay to get around difficult questions, but lying while looking her in the eyes hurt him on a deep, shameful level.

"I just had to check," Astrid said finally, driving onwards. "There were some odd stories about low-level company secrets getting tickled out of you in primary school."

Hiccup flushed. "That's a damn lie."

The wardrive came to an end at dusk. Hiccup was well and truly over being awake, but he had to see it through to the end.

Astrid stopped the van in front of the diner. Hiccup expected her to immediately outline phase two of her plan to find the thief, but instead she leaned forward and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. Her eyes were closed.

Even in his sleep-deprived state, Hiccup was tactful enough not to say anything until she did.

A full minute passed before she raised her head and gave him a tight smile. "Thanks for everything you've done, Hiccup," she said sincerely. "The Sensor, the wardrive plan, all of it. I wish it had worked out, but I guess you were right all those times you said the thief had probably smuggled the Emulator off Berk by now."

Hiccup avoided her eyes, shrugging off another wave of guilt. "It was a long shot, but it was still worth doing," he replied quietly.

Astrid flicked her hair out of her eyes. "If you want, I could make you some dinner at the diner."

Hiccup must have had a very odd expression, because she reddened and stared at her hands, still gripping the steering wheel. "Well I _am_ an employee," she said defensively. "It was just a thought."

Hiccup found his voice at last. "Thank you," he said earnestly, "But I'd probably fall asleep before my first bite."

"You do look pretty awful," she admitted.

"Thanks," he replied with a weary grin.

"I can give you a lift, at least. Where does she live?" Astrid made to pull out onto the road again, but Hiccup quickly waved his hands in the negative.

"No, no, bad idea. Getting dropped off by a mysterious woman with the same hair colour would probably cause problems."

Astrid breathed a laugh. "She's a jealous type, then?"

"Let's just say I'd rather not find out."

With that, they parted ways, and Hiccup made his way back to the warehouse.

He expected Cami to be waiting for him with a steaming bowl of victory-sex, but she was gone. Only little Toothless was there to greet him as he stumbled into the office and flopped on the fold out bed.

"Hey, bud," he mumbled as the metal Night Fury leapt onto the bed and hunkered down beside him. "How was _your_ day?"

* * *

Hiccup was dead to the world for ten hours, and woke feeling like he could go for ten more.

Toothless stirred against his side. Hiccup stroked the metal Night Fury's metal spine slowly.

"Soon. I promise," he whispered. "Just gotta get you some new eyes, a propulsion system, and a couple of loose ends. Then you'll be even better than an organic Night Fury. You'll love it."

Cami strode into the office and shucked her coat. "Take your clothes off," she instructed.

Hiccup just blinked at her through sleepy eyes. "What?"

She didn't repeat herself, instead roughly pulling his shirt and pants off and tossing them on the floor. Hiccup was coming around to the idea until he noticed her eyes. There was no glint of mischief in there, only hard focus.

"Cami? What's up?"

Cami went over his clothes with a small device. She didn't reply until she was done.

"Something's happening," she said, throwing his clothes back at him. "I had to make sure you didn't bring a tracking device here."

"Wait, someone knows we're here?" Hiccup forgot all about his tiredness as a drop of adrenaline entered his bloodstream, making his skin prickle and his senses sharpen.

"I don't think so. But something changed last night, and it's sending ripples through Berk."

"Can you explain how?"

Cami sighed patiently. "Yesterday, while you were finishing the wardrive with your science pals, I took the ferry back to the Bog Burglar islands. I found out that my mother has temporarily suspended Bog contracts on Berk, but nobody knows why."

Hiccup's mobile began to ring. It was Astrid.

"Hiccup, my mother's calling a major meeting about the investigation, and she wants us to be there," she said breathlessly.

"Even me?"

"Especially you. We'll pick you up from the diner so you don't have to catch the bus, alright?"

Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut. "Alright, I'm on my way." He hung up and told Cami what Astrid had said.

"What does that mean?" asked Cami.

"It means I've been a fool. I've been screwing around, pulling small-time heists and having fun when I should have been focused on getting Toothless's adult body finished and ready to go. Sif is probably closing in, that's why your mother is getting her people off Berk – she doesn't want anyone to get caught up when Sif goes for the kill."

"We aren't compromised yet. If she knew where and who we are, she would have moved immediately." Cami grimaced. "But you're right. The investigation must be getting close to finding this place."

Hiccup pulled on his dark coat and zipped it up. "While I'm gone, start planning to get those new cameras for big Toothless to use as eyes. We need them as soon as possible. And more importantly, check out my notes on the propulsion system he's going to need. We can't get him off Berk without it."

* * *

The van screeched into an employee parking space and the crew of interns dismounted. Astrid led the way into the facility at a brisk walk. Her back was straight, her shoulders back, her chin raised, and her vivid blue eyes burned with determination.

In contrast, Hiccup tried to go unnoticed in her shadow, slinking along behind her like a puppy that knew it had done something wrong.

The meeting was held in the Security Centre on the thirteenth floor. It was shaped like an indoor air traffic control tower, as it overlooked the helicopter hangar that took up the eleventh and twelfth floors below. Hiccup only had vague memories of visiting the area with his father when he was little, but faint feelings of awe came rushing back as they rode up the tower in a glass elevator.

The entire northern wall of the hangar was missing, and there were five retractable helipads sitting just inside, ready to extend out and receive any incoming helicopters. Further inside the hangar were half a dozen Berk Security helicopters in maintenance bays, with rails in place to taxi them out to the pads if necessary.

In one corner of the hangar there was a drone bay, where racks and shelves were full of the unmanned aerial vehicles, each the size of a baby Night Fury. Workbenches with delicate, state-of-the-art tools sat ready to make repairs or adjustments, and there was an array of fabricators and other machines against the wall.

Throughout every section of the hangar, there were elite Berk Security operatives patrolling or standing guard. Hiccup realised, with no lack of perfectly rational fear, that he was in the heart of Sif's power – his father's power, by extension.

And he was a traitor.

The elevator arrived at the top of the tower, and the intern team was treated to one final security checkpoint before they were allowed in the command centre proper.

Hiccup's first thought was that he was standing in an ancient Roman theatre that had been renovated to fit Berk's technocratic aesthetic. A semicircle of descending levels, each packed with desks and workers, led down to a flat stage where Sif stood beside Stoick. On the wall behind them were numerous large screens ready to display vital information.

Hiccup couldn't help the stiffness that went through his muscles upon spotting his father. Apart from a few voicemails and awkward phone calls over the past couple of months, they hadn't spent any time together in a while.

Not that they had ever been great at bonding, of course – a few disastrous fishing trips from Hiccup's youth had proven that their interests lay in different directions. Practically every decision Hiccup had made in his life was in contrast with his father's expectations. Tinkering with cars instead of attending Youth Leadership seminars, studying at the Aske Institute in Norway instead of whatever leadership academy Astrid went to, and, of course, aiding and abetting the thief who stole the Hooligan Foundation's most prized possession instead of not doing that. Little things like that.

In that light, Sif, the commander of Berk Security with decades of experience and well-earned renown under her belt, was only slightly less imposing.

Her hair was a lighter shade of blonde than Astrid's, and her eyes could teach permafrost a thing or two. While Astrid allowed herself a fringe that sometimes covered her left eye, Sif permitted no such frivolity, keeping her hair tied back in a bun, the way Cami did when going on a mission, in order to keep it from being pulled in the event of close-quarters combat. Sif was tall for a woman, only a couple of inches shorter than Hiccup himself, but she stood with a kind of permanent readiness that made him believe the extra inches wouldn't be much help in a fight. She wore standard female business attire: slacks, no skirt, white shirt with a high neckline, and a black jacket left undone – probably to facilitate easy access to the handgun in her shoulder holster. But beneath the sleeves and at the neck, Hiccup spotted another layer beneath it all, a black, tight material that clung to her taut muscles. She had the build of a gymnast or martial artist, and Hiccup felt as though he was staring at a living weapon, one that had known blood in the past.

Maybe still a bit imposing.

The interns reached the two authority figures. Stoick nodded at Hiccup. Hiccup nodded at Stoick.

"Hiccup," said Stoick.

"Dad," replied Hiccup.

"Astrid," said Sif, inclining her head slightly towards her daughter, frosty eyes thoughtful.

"Chief Hofferson," replied Astrid, nodding formally in respect. Hiccup thought he saw a glint of approval in Sif's eyes, and a matching glint of satisfaction in Astrid's.

For their part, Hiccup and Stoick broke eye contact almost immediately. Hiccup glanced up at the rows of desks ascending in a semicircle in front of him, listening to the quiet, professional hum of dozens of people coordinating hundreds of other people, who in turn coordinated others. Stoick swung his arms slightly as though unsure what to do with them, and settled on inspecting the other interns, passing his friendly but unquestionably authoritative gaze over them each in turn.

Hiccup had been subjected to that gaze practically every day while growing up, and every time it hit him, he became hyper aware of the parts of him that didn't measure up to Stoick's expectations for a son.

 _Okay, so I have father issues. That's practically a given in this day and age._

Stoick's gaze seemed to have a more encouraging effect on the other teens. Astrid remained as proud as ever, basking in the approval of the two leaders without showing any outward sign of pleasure. The mischievous light in the twins' eyes grew brighter, though all they did was grin and nod to the administrator. Snotlout puffed out his chest and smiled, familiar enough with Stoick through second hand contact from his father to be relaxed. Fishlegs was the same to a lesser degree due to his mother's importance in the experimental areas of the company, so he just gave a pleasant smile and didn't stoop for once, as Stoick towered over them all.

"Administrator, if I may begin the proceedings?" Sif said respectfully.

"Aye. Let's get this underway." Stoick clasped his hands behind his back, a portrait of calm command.

It was at this point Hiccup noticed other parties present on the floor. Director Ingerman stood with Sven Bronsen, the Translation Team Leader back when there was still a project to work on. Along with them were several people he didn't recognise, Gobber, and a dozen security personnel likely involved with running the investigation.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Sif, "We have had a breakthrough in the investigation."

Hiccup jumped a little when the nearest screen displayed an infrared outline of a person crouching beside a shipping crate. A person with a sword strapped to their back.

"This picture was taken yesterday, at 0347 hours, during the theft of some cargo from a Foundation container ship." Sif began to pace behind everyone as they crowded in to get a better look at the screen. "It was pure chance that this picture was taken at all, in fact. For those who didn't know, Berk Security was alerted to the raid-in-progress only minutes before the ship arrived back at the southern docks. The docks were secured, and we were preparing search lights and IR cameras to assist us in locating the thieves on the ship. Protocol dictates that search lights are used first, and IR cameras are only used if the search lights are insufficient. However, a junior officer misheard an order, and activated his IR camera early, which automatically scanned the ship and took this photo before a senior officer corrected him and they switched to search lights. The photo remained unnoticed until the subsequent investigation."

Hiccup couldn't move his eyes from the screen if he wanted to. Sweat rolled down his back, sticking to his skin like guilt itself.

"Ordinarily, this would be of little use to us," Sif continued, "But in conjunction with the physical description provided by witnesses at the Visithug Electronics warehouse raid a few weeks ago, we are starting to form a clearer picture. The site manager at the warehouse and a co-worker described one of the two thieves involved in that raid as between six and six feet two inches tall, with a wiry build and broad shoulders. He also had a sword-like device strapped to his back.

"You can see the obvious resemblance. Scale measurements of the shipping container beside him have allowed our analysts to determine that the man in this picture is similar enough to the witness testimonies to be a likely match, especially considering the sword. From there, it is a simple enough train of logic."

Sif waved her hand and the screen began to flick between pictures of the floor in the Visithug warehouse where Hiccup had cut open the way out, and the grate that covered the path into Odin's chamber that Cami had cut through using the dagger.

"Rather than treating you like idiots, I'll lay it out simply. We believe the thief who stole the Emulator is the same one who raided the Visithug warehouse with a partner. From this image, we are also willing to take an intuitive leap of logic and claim the same thief was involved in the container ship theft."

Sif let her words sink in, still pacing in a wide circle around the small crowd like a wolf corralling sheep to find the weakest. Or, Hiccup supposed, it was more like an alpha wolf making sure her pups paid attention to an important lesson. It certainly felt like each data point was another sharp tooth against his neck, pressing closer, almost drawing blood.

Astrid was the first to speak, somehow unconcerned about speaking out of turn in a room full of high-ranking security personnel.

"What new options does this assumption create for us?" she said, blue eyes still studying the image, probably burning the hateful thief's IR outline into her memory.

Sif nodded at her daughter. "For the first time, we have a physical description to work with. Naturally, people are already combing the security footage of the day the Emulator was stolen, looking for people who match the height and body type of the thief. However, due to the general chaos of that day, it has been difficult to find any useful details. Additionally, Berk Security has been given enough information to keep officers looking for people who match that description.

"But that isn't all." Sif gestured at the intern team. "Our newest intern team, though assigned only briefly to the project, have proven their resourcefulness in the face of unexpected circumstances." All eyes turned their way, and Hiccup felt more trapped than ever.

"They launched their own, unofficial investigation, using a homemade sensor to search for the energy signature left by the Emulator. They drove down every street in Berk over the course of several weeks, canvassing the island in search of the Emulator. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful, but their idea – wardriving, they call it – still holds merit. As we speak, vans are being fitted with company sensors, and in five days' time, they will begin another, far more effective wardrive."

* * *

"Five days," repeated Cami.

Hiccup didn't reply. He was sitting on the fold out bed with his head in his hands.

"Why are they so sure it's still on Berk?" Cami went on, pacing angrily in front of him. "The Emulator was stolen months ago, it could be anywhere in the world for all they know."

"I don't know," Hiccup said pitifully. "Maybe they think they would have heard news from elsewhere if the Emulator had reached a buyer, or whoever they think ordered the theft. They probably have informants everywhere. Hell, isn't it normal for thieves to wait a while before trying to get rid of hot property?"

"For something this hot, it would have been smarter to get it off the island immediately, during the chaos," Cami informed him. "Which is why we're totally fucked if we don't get that propulsion system. Can you even install it within five days? What about navigation? How is any of this going to work?"

"If you get me the parts, I can do it," Hiccup said as a dreaded realisation dawned on him. "I'll need help, though."

Cami stopped her pacing, looking at him in surprise. "Who?"

"Not who. What." Hiccup sighed heavily. "In uni, I took on too much work at once. I could have explained it to my tutors, but they would probably report it to my dad, and I guess I was feeling a bit fed up with giving him nothing but bad news." He swallowed. "So I used these, uh, pills that help you focus."

Cami was looking at him weirdly, and he felt shame sink into his skin like a layer of filth. "I haven't used them since," he said hurriedly. "But, well, they _did_ let me get like a semester's worth of work done in a few days."

Slowly, Cami nodded. "I'm going to watch this very carefully," she said tightly. Hiccup jerked his head in acknowledgment.

They worked fast.

The propulsions system was chosen to be an EM engine designed for unmanned aircraft such as large drones. Toothless's adult body was in the same weight class, so Hiccup thought it was appropriate. It also had some added benefits.

"No exhaust, no emissions – he'll be like a ghost in the night," Hiccup said excitedly. "It's a much less powerful version of the engine NASA uses in their spacecraft these days. Of course, in this context, 'much less powerful' still means 'pretty damn powerful'."

Any aircraft manufacturer would be able to provide one, but it would be prohibitively difficult to steal by hand. To make matters worse, Toothless's eyes would come from Ocular Innovations, on the Meathead islands.

They didn't have time to plan such far-reaching and complex heists, so Cami put out a call for two urgent jobs, each with a hefty price tag attached. Hiccup knew very little about the internal workings of the Bog Burglars, and even Cami was tight-lipped on the details. Rather than waste his time asking questions that would never be answered, he instead quietly acquired a small bottle of the same pills he had used in university.

There were students who took them the same way they took breakfast every day, but Hiccup had never been one of them. It was entirely possible to build up a serious dependency on the stuff, and his paranoia occasionally had a positive effect on his life: in this case, a very cautious attitude when it came to drugs.

But he'd been taking risks for a while now, and it seemed his barricade of hesitance had been worn down.

The next two days were agonising. Cami assured him that the jobs would be complete in time, but Hiccup could hardly stand sitting around doing nothing while Sif's trucks were prepared with sensors that would easily penetrate any defence he could whip up.

The blueprints were already done, so most of his time was devoted to programming the flight system, which was a far bigger task than any one person had ever attempted alone. Hell, he'd already accomplished more than even the most skilled engineer could do on their own in a limited amount of time. He knew, distantly, that he was something of a prodigy, a one-in-a-billion genius capable of incredible things. But he damn well never felt like it. All he felt was stress, and pressure, and Sif's hands around his neck.

The parts arrived on the third day, delivered to drop points and transferred to other drop points before eventually winding up at the warehouse, courtesy of the few remaining Bog Burglar contacts in Berk. Cami hadn't mentioned the price, but she'd paid out of her own account without a single complaint, so he guessed it was too big to joke about.

Hiccup took a pill.

And he worked.

The EM engine was integrated into Toothless's body, using the Emulator as a power source like all the components. When active, the thruster appeared as a thick, blue, glowing circle just beneath the tail, and produced an audible _thrum_ of energy.

The ocular sensors, designed for absolute clarity regardless of the lighting, were fitted into the holes in the metal Night Fury head. They were capable of blinking, dilating, adaptive depth of field adjustments – everything a dragon could want.

Cami cornered the baby Night Fury and brought him to Hiccup. They lulled the little guy to sleep with some fire before deactivating his body and extracting the Emulator, along with the adaptors.

The impulse to take off was wired into the activation of the EM engine, and most of the flying impulses were similarly wired into the thruster's various states. The impulse to spread his wings was connected to the extension of the retractable wings in the same way.

As Hiccup carefully installed the brain into its new body, he felt a strange sense of kinship with Doctor Frankenstein.

 _It's probably the pills._

Hiccup's hyper-focused drug-induced work ethic was definitely going to fly in his face – his rational, intelligent mind was fully aware of it. He just needed to last long enough to get Toothless off Berk and over to the safehouse Cami had ready and waiting on the Bog islands.

Hiccup watched the adaptors shift between colours as all the new sources of input reached the Emulator. Slowly, Toothless began to wake up.

For safety's sake, Hiccup had installed a lock on the EM engine, preventing it from flying without his permission. He was mainly terrified of Toothless immediately trying to fly without realising his new power and launching through a wall, so it seemed like a sensible precaution.

It turned out to be very sensible indeed, as Toothless leapt to his feet, his sheer black form titanic compared to his previous body, and immediately extended his wings. When he was unable to take off, his mouth opened in a silent roar, and he slowly retracted his wings.

Hiccup and Cami stood perfectly still. There was a very real chance that Toothless would not recognise them due to their relative size now, and might attack them. Even if he did recognise them, Hiccup wasn't sure his body could take a nuzzling from a huge metal dragon. Even a friendly nudge could knock him out cold.

But something strange happened. The glow of the Emulator, visible behind Toothless's eyes, flickered slightly, something it usually only did when receiving new input. The Night Fury slowly, almost wonderingly, clanked over to Hiccup, staring him in the eyes.

Hiccup watched the lenses dilate and focus, felt the power and energy contained within the dragon before him.

And he reached out, and put his hand on Toothless's nose.

The moment was frozen, and Hiccup felt as though his thoughts were hanging in the air around him. He prayed that Toothless could see them, could comprehend even a little bit of the compassion and reverence Hiccup held for the dragon's very existence.

Toothless gently pressed forward into Hiccup's hand.

Hiccup's breath caught in his throat. The metal was _warm_ and carried a mild charge that made his hand tingle. In a single gesture, a gulf of understanding was breached, and Hiccup felt a layer of uncertainty about his entire cause that he hadn't even been aware of fall away.

Toothless sniffed a few times, spared a glance for Cami, and then thumped away to explore the warehouse – this time with all his senses.

Hiccup was still grinning when his phone rang and he raised it to his ear.

"Hiccup!" Astrid's voice was breathless and far more gleeful than he had ever heard it before. "I was meeting with my mother, who was with the Administrator, and word just arrived from the preliminary trucks on the wardrive – they _found the Emulator!_ It's still on Berk, holed up in the western docks! My mother is launching an imminent raid! Isn't this great?"

Hiccup's entire body went numb. "Preliminary trucks?" he repeated. Cami's head snapped over to meet his horrified gaze, and new-Toothless paused in his strutting to glance curiously at the both of them, sensing the change in mood.

"Yes, she told me she had the trucks prepared in only three days, and sent them out early. She told everyone it would be five days in case there was a mole listening, so she could catch them off-guard. Anyway, the trucks canvassed the southern and western docks much faster than we did, and no offence to you, but I guess their professional sensors had a bit more power to them."

"That's awesome, Astrid. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you guys, it sounds like it's going to be a crazy night." Hiccup's words were placid, but adrenaline was already coursing through him, erasing the numbness and replacing it with trembling tension.

Astrid laughed cheerfully. "I know, I know, you're with your girlfriend. I'm sure you'll do enough celebrating for all of us. But listen, if she lives anywhere near the western docks, you might want to stay inside, alright? I don't want you getting arrested for trying to catch a look at the perpetrators."

"I would never," Hiccup said tonelessly. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Tell Sif congratulations."

As he hung up, the sound of distant helicopters reached them.

They were getting closer.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Think of me as herpes. I always come back sooner or later.**

 **This chapter was half-written for a very long time, and my only excuse is that I'm easily distracted by new ideas and want to write everything despite barely having the time to finish _one_ thing.**

 **Please review!**


	10. Fugitive

**Chapter 10: Fugitive**

"Put on your sneaking suit," Cami ordered, and they raced to get dressed. Along the way, they picked up every personal item that had gravitated to the office, like laptops and PDAs, along with clothes and even condom wrappers. Cami took the can of gasoline they had used to light little fires for Toothless and began applying it liberally throughout the office.

Hiccup raced back down to the main floor and used the abundance of tools to rip open the ports on every machine he had used that involved electronics, tearing out the motherboards and throwing them all in a metal bin. When Cami joined him, he had a sizeable collection of incriminating storage devices and things that might contain even the slightest bit of information regarding their identities or what they had been up to.

Cami emptied the rest of the gasoline into the metal bin and set it ablaze. The office was already a raging inferno, much to Toothless's delight, and Hiccup and Cami set about spraying any flammable liquid they could find over as much of the warehouse as they could reach: upending oil drums, cans of paint thinner, and even turning on a few machines and adjusting their settings to dangerous levels to make them rip themselves apart.

Helicopters were thundering directly overhead, and the fire was sure to have been spotted by observers. There were no sirens, no lights, as Sif wouldn't have wanted to warn them of her approach.

"You realise there's only one way we're getting out of here, right?" Hiccup said as they stood in the centre of the burning warehouse. Toothless frolicked through the flames around them like a shaman conducting an ancient ritual.

"Nobody would build a dragon that you can't ride," Cami responded, her eyes hard. "You least of all."

God help him, it was true; without even thinking about it, he had incorporated a saddle-like design into Toothless's back, with grips and loops for them to strap into.

"Get your mask on," he said.

Toothless lumbered out of the fire and stood before them, watching inquisitively as they donned their balaclavas. With leather straps and buckles, Hiccup tried to work out a system that would distribute their bodyweight evenly without slicing them into pieces the moment thrust was applied.

"You'll need to be tied to my back," Hiccup told Cami. "And we'll both be strapped in so hard it'll be difficult to get out when – if – we make it."

"Let's focus on the make it part and figure the rest out later," Cami said hurriedly.

The door at the far end of the warehouse exploded open, and two objects were thrown in. Cami clapped her hands over Hiccup's eyes as the warehouse briefly became as illuminated as the surface of the sun. They blindly finished tying themselves to Toothless's back in a configuration that didn't inspire confidence in either of them.

A chorus of deep, distorted voices roared conflicting commands as Berk Security forces thundered into the blazing warehouse, unheeding of the fire in their hardened suits and black visors. They looked like demons coming home to hell.

Hiccup tapped madly at the display screen on the back of Toothless's neck, enabling the EM engine and removing all restrictions. He glanced up at the ceiling, which, while covered in smoke, was still very much made of steel and tin.

"We'll be killed if we try to smash through," said Hiccup breathlessly. "We have to get outside."

He and Cami were pressed so tightly to Toothless's back that he could feel her racing heart right beside his own.

"Good thing they just opened the door for us," Cami replied through gritted teeth.

The incoming soldiers were spreading out through both the burning and unburnt areas of the warehouse, taking each row of machines and crates with clinical professionalism.

Toothless was half-crouched behind a thick curtain of smoke when Hiccup keyed the ignition of the EM engine. A low, electric whine filled the air, and a pulse of disrupted air radiated outwards from them.

In a single instant, the smoke was cleared in a wide circle around the Night Fury, who rose to his full height proudly. Flames bent away from the dragon, smoke swirled, and the soldiers watched with guns raised and mouths open as the blacker-than-black carbon monster became visible.

They stopped advancing. They stopped shouting. There was no protocol to turn to upon encountering an ancient beast. Should they shoot? If it was a real dragon, they would be crucified for killing something so valuable.

Their hesitation surprised Hiccup, but _he_ didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage, initialising the flight systems and completing the final stages of preparation.

His head stuck out a little too far, and one of the soldiers saw it. The illusion broken, the man tapped his visor, possibly switching to thermal optics.

"It's a machine," the soldier said hoarsely, his voice distorted by his helmet to protect his identity. "It's just a machine! Driver's on the back!"

Toothless, who had seemed to be enjoying the awed reactions of these new, angry humans, chose that moment to leap forward and barrel through the soldiers between him and the exit. Gunfire roared from those still standing, but Toothless and his passengers were already swallowed by the smoke once more.

Toothless exploded out of the warehouse entrance with the same enthusiasm the soldiers had displayed on the way in.

A lot of things happened very quickly.

Hiccup had a brief look at the veritable army surrounding the warehouse – cars, trucks, barricades, nothing was left in reserve, and every angle was covered.

Toothless extended his wings.

There was a commotion as people reacted to the appearance of a titanic metal dragon.

Hiccup eyed the helicopters above. There were at least a dozen hanging in the air like dark vultures over a boneyard. He wondered how they were going to manoeuvre past them.

Toothless's 'take flight' impulse was transmitted through the adaptors and into his body.

The sound of the EM engine changed from a low whine to a piercing scream.

The acceleration nearly broke Hiccup's neck.

There was no manoeuvring past the helicopters, because there were no helicopters anymore.

There was no dodging the soldiers, because there were no soldiers anymore.

In fact, there was no ground anymore. Hiccup could see the curvature of the Earth.

He tasted blood, and frozen tears clung to his eyelashes. He realised he must have passed out from the g-forces when Toothless took off. Frantically, he tried to drag his consciousness back together and restore it to working condition. Clouds were _below_ them!

Toothless was struggling, twisting and rolling erratically.

"Oh man, oh god!" Hiccup yelled as the lights, stars, and wind rushed around them.

"Hiccup, what's wrong?" Cami screamed. She sounded like she had just regained consciousness.

Hiccup glanced at the Flight Screen, which was blinking red messages in quick succession. "Power is fluctuating, the wings have design flaws that are causing damage to the body as a whole, other systems are getting damaged in the chaos – _everything_ is wrong!"

"Why?"

"You've seen me design and build a few small things flawlessly, but this is a _flight system_ for a robot dragon!"

" _That's_ where you draw the line?!" she shrieked.

As they rolled through the vortex of spinning stars, clinging to the Night Fury for dear life, Hiccup noticed the light from the Emulator flickering the same way it had when Toothless first woke in his adult body. A shudder ran through the metal dragon, and for a moment Hiccup thought he saw a new signal being detected on the flight screen before they abruptly stopped spinning and levelled out.

Hiccup and Cami were panting heavily, shaken from the ordeal and trying to collect their thoughts. Toothless was flying smoothly now, and the red alert notifications on the flight screen were gone. The wings were still creaking from the strain being put on them, and Hiccup knew he would need to rebuild them to better withstand the stress of flying, but they no longer looked as though they were going to snap off.

Hiccup felt the urge to cheer, or puke, or perhaps a combination of the two. All he knew was that they were alive, somehow, and there was now a chance of them surviving the journey. The inside of his skin-tight sneaking suit was matted with compressed sweat, and he leaned forward to press his head to Toothless's back in order to let the blood flow back to his head.

It would be embarrassing to survive something like that only to faint and fall to his death.

"So, where to?" Hiccup choked out, a little hysterical in his relief.

"The Bog Burglar islands," said Cami in much the same tone of voice.

Hiccup opened the navigation part of the Flight Screen, and Cami indicated their destination. Just as Hiccup was about to wonder how to steer Toothless, the dragon adjusted course without being told.

"That's… weird," said Hiccup.

"Why?" asked Cami.

"The flight system doesn't interface directly with the Emulator. It's mainly for me to control the EM engine and other stuff that Toothless wouldn't be able to control with his instincts alone. He shouldn't be aware of our destination without us guiding him to it."

There was something to this, scratching at the back of Hiccup's mind. Something big and scary.

But the thoughts slipped away from him. He was hurting, and coming down from a wave of fear the likes of which he had never felt before. It was a primal sort of thing, the kind of instinct that compelled animals to retreat to dark, isolated places to lick their wounds and rest.

"Radar?" he asked as they began the descent.

"Yeah, and missile defences too, like every other island in the Archipelago," Cami said against his back. "But seeing as how Berk has the same stuff and we're still flying, maybe today is our lucky day?"

"Lucky," Hiccup said. "That's us."

Cami provided verbal directions that Hiccup punched into the computer, tracing a flight path that had them approach from the sea, low and fast in an (probably pointless, at this stage) effort to avoid notice.

The only light was from the moon, which was a little less light than Hiccup was hoping for when it came to his first landing. The EM engine cycled down as they let air drag decrease their speed. Hiccup cursed himself for not installing flaps and prayed he'd have the chance to do so.

They were gliding, poorly, by the time they reached their destination: one of the smaller outlying Bog Burglar islands, which rose in front of them in a huge, metallic silhouette. The waves crashed only a dozen or so metres below them, and if Hiccup had timed the deceleration incorrectly, they were about to get very wet.

Cami tapped at something on her wrist, and a huge, shining mouth opened in front of them. In reality, it was a wide, rectangular hole in an enormous artificial cliff face. Lights shone from within, illuminating a space about the same size as the warehouse.

"Toothless, we've gotta touch down gently and slide along the floor, alright?" Hiccup called. The dragon gave no sign that he had heard anything. "If you roll or stop suddenly, we'll die. Food for thought," he added hopelessly.

A few seconds later, they shot into the opening in the cliff just as their attempt at gliding failed completely. Hiccup disabled the EM engine and Toothless's four legs smacked onto the steel floor with a loud bang. There was a blur of light and wind as the smooth legs scrabbled around, unable to find a purchase, unintentionally spinning Hiccup and Cami around for the second time that night.

Finally, Toothless came to a stop at the far wall, which was composed of a series of high-tech cabinets and racks. The dragon, apparently sick of being unable to control its direction, flopped to the floor in a heap, causing Hiccup and Cami to smack their helmets together.

They fell into a heap of their own, too exhausted and shocked to move. Hiccup vaguely noticed their entry point closing up, sealing them away from the cold night air and the sound of the ocean.

"A secret cave built into a cliff, with a big door that you could only possibly enter if you were flying," Hiccup observed tiredly. "Did you prepare for this?"

Cami breathed a laugh. "This place was built ages ago. Every Bog Burglar island is riddled with hidden caves, tunnels, storage sheds, and labs. This one's mine. Or one of mine, anyway."

Hiccup made a gargantuan effort to raise his head and look around. It was huge, but most of the space was empty, especially towards the garage-door like mechanism that hid them from the ocean. At their end, there were Bog tools and supplies, a few spare sneaking suits hanging up, and not much else.

"Homey," he said, letting his head fall back to the floor.

Cami twitched, which Hiccup interpreted as a shrug. "It used to be full of high-val stock. Several shipping containers' worth. I had to liquidate to get Toothless's parts in time."

Hiccup felt a spear of guilt enter his gut. It was becoming a familiar sensation.

He reached out and took Cami's hand. "I'm really glad you did," he said honestly.

She turned to look him in the eyes, a smile quirking at the corners of her mouth. "No need to get angsty," she said, reading his mind as always. Her smile faded quickly. "But this is going to be difficult to explain to my mother."

"Does she have to know? This is a little sensitive, if you haven't noticed."

"I know we don't have an honourable reputation in the business world, but within the company, loyalty is everything. My mother receives full stock lists from every single member of the company, as well as information regarding ongoing operations and plans for the future."

Hiccup managed to sit up and remove his balaclava. Cami did the same.

"Who _is_ your mother, exactly?" he asked slowly.

"The administrator of the Bog Burglars," she replied. "Her name's Bertha."

"God, how the hell did this happen? We're both the heirs to huge corporations? I can't believe I never asked about your family before."

"You did," she reminded him gently. "I always dodged the question. Eventually you stopped asking." She sighed. "Half the reason we became friends back in primary school was because I could tell you understood what it was like to be smarter than most kids, but still not enough for your parents. Or parent, in both our cases. The difference was you never tried to act like anyone but yourself. You never bowed to your father's wishes regarding your studies, your friends, your degree. It didn't matter if you were lacking in confidence or were unsure about yourself – you kept doing what _you_ wanted no matter how awkward it made things between you and your dad." Cami's mouth twisted, and she avoided his eyes. "I envied you. You had this pure, moral strength inside you that I… lacked. I _did_ do whatever my mother wanted me to do. I toed the party line on almost everything, no matter how I really felt. Everything except you. I've kept all of your real secrets from her, and I always will."

Hiccup didn't know what to say. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came to mind. He couldn't remember Cami ever being so open with him before. He had thought he understood her, but there was so much more she'd kept hidden.

"Cami, I…" he whispered, his voice hoarse. "There's no gesture… nothing I could say that could convey the depth of my gratitude. You've never asked me for anything, but I want you to know that I would stop at nothing to help you if you needed it. If you thought I was being extreme in my efforts to protect Toothless, you have no idea the lengths I would go to to protect you."

"Would you blow up a city?" she asked immediately, straight-faced.

Hiccup stuttered. "I… I mean, that… how would that protect you?"

But she was suddenly wearing her slightly feral grin, and Hiccup let out a heavy sigh at being taken in once again.

"One of these days," he muttered, pulling Cami into a hug, "I'm going to stop being so gullible. And then what will you do, huh? You'll be bored out of your mind."

She squeezed him harder than she usually did, and said nothing.

* * *

"So how are we going to play this?" said Hiccup. They had begun repairing and upgrading Toothless using the minimal tools at their disposal. "I don't think the ferry even goes to this island, so how on earth am I supposed to get back to Berk without arousing suspicion?"

"Well, gee, if only us thieves had a way of inserting into Berk without using tracked transportation," Cami said, putting on a dumb voice.

"Of course. You guys are prepared for everything, aren't you?"

"That's how we roll. You think Berk Security is too stupid to take photos of every female visitor to arrive on Berk via the ferry? Pshh! We've got them figured out."

Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "Well, alright, impress me then."

"Tunnels," she said simply.

"Tunnels," he repeated in a flat voice. "Under the ocean."

"Yep."

"I must be getting less gullible, because that sounds like complete bullshit to me."

Cami rolled her eyes and stopped working on Toothless for a moment so she could give Hiccup her full attention. "There are cables under the sea, providing power to all of the artificial islands that make up the Archipelago. The Bogs secretly own the company that maintains them."

"Wait," Hiccup interrupted. "Seriously? Tunnels under the sea?"

"Yes, _seriously,_ " Cami huffed. "They built the tunnels alongside the cables and integrated them into the deepest parts of every island in the Archipelago. It's our most valuable secret."

"And…" Hiccup paused, blinking. "And you just told _me._ The guy who couldn't stand up to tickling back in primary school."

"Nobody stands up to real torture, Hiccup. I don't expect you to. Thankfully, we've never faced that problem. We offer a hefty ransom for any captured operatives, after all, so long as they're undamaged. Not to mention, there are literally hundreds of exit points in the tunnel system, and they are all disguised and protected. Even if they were discovered, there would be no way to know _who_ is using them, and why."

"But what if –"

" _Hiccup,_ " Cami said firmly, "Trust me when I say that we've spent generations ensuring the tunnel system remains secret. Hundreds of very intelligent people have examined the problem from every angle imaginable, and continue to do so every day."

"Alright," Hiccup relented. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it." He checked his watch automatically. "And it's almost dawn. I need to be back there in case they call me in."

"Are you sure they aren't going to draw any lines between your absence and the break-out?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Why would they? The hot gossip is that I have a girlfriend who takes up a lot of my time. Astrid believes it, Gobber probably doesn't shut up about it, and even Sven thinks he knows what I'm up to. What's more believable, that I'm secretly aiding the Emulator thief, or that I'm currently wrapped up in bedsheets and oblivious to the world?"

After making sure Toothless was as comfortable as they could make him (and triple-checking that he would have no way of activating the EM engine on his own), Cami led Hiccup through six layers of disguised and misleading architecture down into the tunnels below. To Hiccup's surprise, it was comfortably warm, though his comfort waned somewhat when Cami explained the heat was radiating from the power cables outside the walls.

There was a rail system to provide ultrafast transport, big enough to carry three shipping containers lengthways. Hiccup and Cami sat on some old metal seats bolted to the moving platform, the wind whipping through their hair. Moving so quickly in such an enclosed space while being so far underwater did funny things to Hiccup's ears and sinuses, but he supposed it was better than suffering decompression sickness.

While they travelled back to Berk, Hiccup tapped determinedly at a PDA he'd swiped from Cami's cave. He didn't want to use his own in case it was being monitored after his botched attempt at bugging Astrid's laptop.

"What are you looking for?" asked Cami, leaning over.

"I've been lazy," said Hiccup. "My idleness nearly got you and Toothless killed." He was angry, he realised. "That isn't going to happen again."

On the PDA, he was constructing a list out of specifications and images from the internet.

Cami peered at his work. "Is that a flight helmet?"

The full-face liquid-crystal visor in the first image gave off no reflections, just like the carbon nanotubes that made up Toothless's body. There was a rebreather mask integrated into the lower half of the helmet, which would be a necessity at higher altitudes.

Hiccup remembered the way the Berk Security forces had emerged menacingly from the flames, unharmed and unhindered by the heat. He decided on a lightweight redesign of the hard suits worn by Berk Rapid-Response teams. Extra protection was given to the spines in the form of a series of overlapping metal scales up the centre of their backs, designed to allow flexibility while preventing the neck from being broken by sudden acceleration.

The rest of the list consisted of redesign notes for Toothless. The telescoping straight wing design was scrapped in favour of thicker, folding, curved wings more suitable to the stresses of high-speed flight.

Hiccup knew why he was doing this now and not later. It was a displacement activity, something to keep him from dwelling on the gravity of recent events. The adrenaline had long faded, leaving a gnawing void in his gut. Not even witnessing the Bog Burglar's greatest secret in action could distract him completely.

Lights occasionally flashed past them, tiny LEDs at even distances. They gave him a headache.

At the other end, it took a while to climb back up to the surface of Berk. Cami led him through labyrinthine corridors and tiny crawlspaces. They didn't talk much until the air became cold and fresh. After breathing scrubbed air for so long while in the tunnel, it had the effect of waking Hiccup out of his stupor.

"Wouldn't the neighbours notice different people coming out of this house after a while?" he said as they emerged from the basement of an unassuming house on the eastern part of the island.

"No, because we own this whole street," Cami informed him under her breath. "This kind of street is where Bogs go to retire if they still want to contribute to the company. They don't have to do anything except _not_ notice anything weird about this house."

They walked down the quiet, dimly-lit street. Dawn had arrived, but its radiance was muffled by an overcast sky.

"You gonna be alright?" Cami asked quietly, bumping her shoulder into his.

"Yeah," Hiccup replied after a moment. "This is going to be rough."

* * *

After Cami left for her apartment in Berk's high-rise district, Hiccup stopped by a liquor store before catching a bus back to the facility. He felt a bit sleazy carrying a brown paper bag openly, but he had the beginnings of a plan in his mind and he didn't want to scrap it. He tried to look exhausted (which was easy) but cheerful (which was not), the kind of mix a guy might display after an evening of raucous sex followed by really good news in the morning.

God, he wished that was what had happened.

The intern team was sitting at their regular table in the cafeteria, eating slowly. Nobody was saying much, and even Ruff and Tuff were only bickering with whispers instead of shouts. Snotlout was glaring at his breakfast as though it was responsible for all the recent setbacks and only he knew how to punish it. Fishlegs was eating robotically, his eyes unfocused, the tell-tale sign of someone deep in thought.

And Astrid… had been staring right at Hiccup the moment he entered the room.

Hiccup didn't try to reclaim his pretend cheerfulness – she would have seen him notice the sorry state of the team. It would probably be better like this anyway since he wouldn't have to hide the stress he felt inside.

Heads turned as Hiccup reach their table. He awkwardly put the paper bag on the table and withdrew a bottle of champagne.

"Thought I'd contribute to the celebrations, but…" he muttered.

Astrid shuffled aside to make room for him and he took the seat gratefully.

"What happened?" Hiccup asked softly.

Astrid gave a long sigh, then visibly shook herself out of the blanket of disappointment that covered the table and ran her fingers through her hair. She'd forgotten to tie it up in her usual braid, so it hung in golden tangles to her neck.

"My mother launched the raid, like I told you," she said. "The Emulator was detected in a warehouse on the western docks. They sent a Berk Security high-risk team in after securing the perimeter. The thief – I can't believe I'm saying this – the thief installed the Emulator into a… robot dragon in the shape of an adult Night Fury."

Hiccup snorted back laughter and glanced around the table. "Right."

"I'm serious," Astrid insisted.

"A robot dragon," Hiccup repeated. The others nodded.

"And it could fly," Fishlegs murmured.

Hiccup pursed his lips like someone who knows he's being pranked but is willing to hear the whole joke. "How did it fly?" he asked.

Astrid answered. "It had an EM engine attached. Coincidentally, an EM engine went missing during a shipment not long ago, but my mother thinks it's unlikely to be the same one since it would take a team weeks to prepare and install something like that."

"Right," Hiccup said reasonably. "Because that would be beyond the realm of believability."

"It _happened_ , Hiccup," Astrid said irritably. "We have full video evidence from the bodycams of the BS team _and_ the perimeter team."

"BS is right," Hiccup shot back. "So the dragon flew away without being followed on radar or any of the other tracking technology the Foundation has installed? It evaded all of Berk's defence systems that are fast and intelligent enough to shoot down incoming ICBMs before any humans even know they're coming?"

"There were… malfunctions in those systems," Astrid said through gritted teeth. "Berk cybersecurity are investigating. We may have been attacked at the same time as the thief made their escape."

Hiccup was silent as he processed this. He let the mirth fade from his face and replaced it with a frown. Astrid seemed mollified that he was finally grasping the reality of the situation.

A cyberattack on Berk's defences? Hiccup knew nothing about that. They hadn't had time to think about that sort of thing when they were escaping the warehouse. There had been a vague plan in the back of his head to fly as close to the ocean and possible to try and avoid being tracked on radar, but the more he thought about it, the less likely their escape seemed.

Was someone helping them?

 _Or…_

Hiccup crushed the thought. It was too dangerous and distracting to follow while undercover.

"What's Sif doing now?" he asked.

"The same thing she's been doing for months, only now she's pissed," said Snotlout.

Fishlegs broke out of his reverie with a shudder. "Losing the Emulator to a well-planned heist is one thing," he said, "But having it within reach only for it to slip out of her grasp… I can't imagine what she's going to do to the thief when she finds them."

"Have we been given any assignments?" Hiccup asked, ignoring the fear response in his chest.

"We sorta got pushed aside when it all went sideways," said Ruff, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

Tuff snorted. "Was a hell of a mood whiplash. One second, we were invited upstairs to watch the triumphant recovery, the next, we were being shoved out the door while everyone's yelling at each other. Sif was wearing a combat suit, dude. For an older lady, she's _built._ "

"I don't want to hear that again," Astrid growled.

"What? It was a compliment!"

"So… back to square one?" said Hiccup.

"Worse," Fishlegs said miserably. "Because the Emulator was modified and given access to external stimulus that wasn't monitored under lab conditions, the project is a bust. It's over. They obviously still want to recover the Emulator and salvage what they can, but the project as it was defined when it began has been aborted."

"What?" Hiccup sat up straight. "Then what happens to our team?"

"We're basically squatters," Ruff said bluntly. "We have no project, there is no team, but we're allowed to stay in our quarters and eat the cafeteria food."

"Director Ingerman was very kind when she broke the news," Astrid said stiffly. Hiccup noticed for the first time the bags beneath her eyes and the tension in her shoulders. Out of all of them, she seemed to be taking this latest failure the hardest. "The Foundation still values us. Apparently, we're something of a 'dream-team' in their eyes. The project was supposed to bring us into the fold very quickly, and apparently we were exceeding all of their expectations before… well, before those expectations ceased to have any meaning. With the project gone, and no other department in need of our skills, we've been left adrift. They want us here, but they don't have anything for us to do."

The table was quiet in the wake of such a sombre announcement. The cafeteria was empty except for them, rows of steel tables gleaming beneath fluorescent lights.

Hiccup's guilt was stifling, but the way it clashed with his desire to keep Toothless happy and free made it far worse. His stomach churned, tensing and relaxing in incremental spasms that made him feel as though he was being tied into a knot. He moved his hands below the table to grip his knees and hide the trembling. His skin felt hot.

Then his phone rang.

Hiccup leapt at the chance to get some distance from the situation, excusing himself with a murmur as he withdrew to his neglected dorm room.

"Hello?" he answered as soon as he was inside.

"Hiccup Haddock," said a female voice he didn't recognise. "I know about Toothless."

Hiccup's heart nearly stopped.

"What?" he said blankly.

"I know about Cami as well. Go to the coordinates that just appeared in your GPS app."

The call ended, and with a woozy groan, Hiccup fainted onto his bed.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I deliberately take a long time to write these chapters out of pure, undisguised _malice_. There are no other explanations.**

 **Anyway, we're finally heading into the second act. It's not going to be nearly as long as the first, but it is going to be quite heavy-hitting.**

 **Please review!**


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